LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 3, 2002--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it lowered its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Swiss Reinsurance Co. and related core subsidiaries of the Swiss Re group (Swiss Re) to double-'A'-plus from triple-'A', and removed them from CreditWatch, where they were placed on Aug. 30, 2002. The outlook on all group entities is stable. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its short-term 'A-1'-plus counterparty credit and commercial paper ratings on Swiss Re. The main factors for the downgrade are recent marginal non-life underwriting performance, a decline in Swiss Re's capital adequacy since the end of 2001, and somewhat reduced financial flexibility (that is, the ability to source additional
