Generali benefits from a very strong competitive position as one of the leading franchises in major European life and property/casualty (P/C) markets, including Italy, Germany, and France, complemented by a strong position in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Its position as market leader in Italy, a very profitable market, underpins the overall very strong competitive position of the group. The validity of its business model has been confirmed, in Standard & Poor's Ratings Services' view, by resilient and healthy levels of growth. We expect revenue growth and growth in life to remain in the lowsingle-
digit range. P/C growth should resume in light of the rate increases and the slowly improving economic activity, potentially reaching the mid-single-digit range.
Solid business fundamentals continue to underpin Generali's very strong operating performance. As we expected, the group's earnings in 2010 improved significantly, although a dampened operating and financial environment continues to
slow further improvements in its operating performance, as it has for peers. 2010 operating profit increased 11.7% to €4,077 billion. We expect operating return to increase in 2011, potentially reaching €4.5 billion. After the sharp increase
over the past two years, we expect life operating earnings to remain stable at around €3 billion, and the P/C segment to contribute about €1.5 to operating profit. We expect operating return on embedded value (ROEV) to recover, exceeding 11%, and new business margin on present value of future profits to remain above 2.2%, sustained by stable volumes of profitable traditional business in Italy, more profitable business mix in France, and a resilient contribution from traditional business in CEE and the rest of the world. In P/C, we expect the net combined ratio to further improve, reaching 98% in 2011, thanks to strict underwriting discipline and risk-adjusted pricing.
We view Generali's ERM as strong, reflecting the progress it has made in embedding its risk management framework. Generali's ERM assessment also reflects our view of its strong risk management culture, strong strategic risk management, and strong risk controls for its main risks.
We view Generali's capitalization as only strong, which continues to represent a relative weakness for the current ratings. In addition, capital adequacy fell to only a good level at year-end 2010, according to our risk-adjusted capital model. Quality of
capital has also weakened over recent years because of the expanded use of hybrid debt and an increasing contribution of soft forms of capital.
The ratings on Generali exceed those on the sovereign (Italy (Republic of); A+/Negative/A-1+). According to our criteria, we assess Generali's exposure to Italian country risk as moderate (see