On 18 December 2020, the international rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) again confirmed its “A-” rating of UNIQA Insurance Group AG with a stable outlook. Positive factors in S&P’s decision particularly included the company’s strong market position in Austria, CEE and Russia, its leading role in health insurance in Austria and its “excellent” capital adequacy according to the S&P Global Ratings capital model.
S&P continues to rate UNIQA’s business risk profile as strong, emphasising UNIQA’s strong position in Austria and its good position in CEE, which has improved further following the acquisition of the AXA companies in the region. In addition, S&P assumes that UNIQA will successfully continue to grow in the next few years in view of its strong competitive position, well-established sales capacity and diversified business portfolio – despite challenging conditions due to the coronavirus pandemic and a weak economy.
Furthermore, S&P continues to rate UNIQA Insurance Group AG’s financial risk profile as strong. The rating agency emphasises UNIQA’s sound capital adequacy here. They remain at the outstanding “AAA” level in the S&P capital model, even after the AXA acquisition. Accordingly, UNIQA’s sound risk profile benefits from a balanced, diversified and stable investment portfolio and a conservative reinsurance protection strategy. In S&P’s view, UNIQA pursues a conservative investment strategy, reflected by the fact that UNIQA’s investments have a credit rating of “A” on average.
S&P rates UNIQA’s liquidity as exceptional, and accordingly expects the Group to be able to withstand any severe liquidity stress.
Overall, S&P considers that UNIQA will sustain its capital and earnings assessment at least at a very strong level over for the next two years.