Zurich Insurance Co. Ltd.

The positive outlook on ZIC and its core subsidiaries reflects that we could raise the ratings within the next 12-24 months. An upgrade might occur if ZIC's diversification over the next two years allows it to post solid earnings, in line with our base-case assumption, and at least in line with that of the global multiline insurers peer group. An upgrade would also be contingent on the group's risk-tolerance policies continuing to target comfortable capital buffers, at least within the very strong capital adequacy range. We might consider revising the outlook to stable if, contrary to our expectations, capital adequacy declined sustainably below the 'AA' level, while Zurich's differentiating financial and business strengths versus peers diminished. This might result from

...In S&P Global Ratings' opinion, globally diversified profile of Zurich Insurance Co. Ltd. (ZIC) is safeguarding its business development against the immediate fallout from COVID-19. We expect that the outbreak of COVID-19 will mainly slow Zurich's growth in new business in Latin America, Asia Pacific, and specialty businesses worldwide. However, ZIC's core markets of North America and EMEA--which represents more than 85% of its overall group premiums--will continue to benefit from cyclical market hardening, for which the insurer is very well positioned. Zurich's 2019 performance, with a return on equity (ROE) of 12.8% and combined ratio of 96.4%, was strong compared with that of peers, as well as to its own historical performance in the past decade. This made the insurer well prepared to weather the expected impact of COVID19 shock. Despite some exposure to U.S. workers comp, and limited exposure to business interruption, the expected 2020 COVID-19 impact estimated at first-quarter 2020...

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