E' un po' vecchiotta, ma non ricordo di averla vista…
Announcement:
Moody's: Issuance of Tier 1 debt by European insurance companies to rise, a credit positive
10 Apr 2018
Paris, April 10, 2018 -- Issuance of Tier 1 debt by insurance companies is likely to increase due to the limits that the European Solvency II capital regime places on the issuance of Tier 2 debt and thanks to favourable financing conditions, says Moody's Investors Service in a report published today. The increase in Tier 1 debt will improve insurers' quality of capital, a credit positive.
Based on year-end 2016 capital structures, Moody's estimates that the European insurers that it rates would need to issue around €13 billion of new Tier 1 debt by the end of 2026 in order to maintain their current solvency levels. Favorable financial market conditions will also support Tier 1 debt issuance.
Most of the debt currently accounted as Tier 1 under Solvency II was issued before the advent of the new regulatory regime and has been "grandfathered" until 2026, despite having no loss absorbing features. According to Moody's, insurers will generally choose to replace their existing grandfathered debt with Tier 2 instruments, which are cheaper than new Tier 1 debt. However, since Tier 2 issuance capacity is limited under Solvency II, some insurers will also have to issue new Tier 1 debt.
"While issuance of new Tier 1 debt has so far been modest, we expect it to increase over the next two years," said Benjamin Serra, a Senior Vice President at Moody's. "This is partly because European insurers' Tier 2 issuance capacity has reduced just as a further five billion euros of grandfathered debt becomes callable in 2018 and 2019."
Insurers will also take advantage of the current low interest rates environment by issuing new Tier 1 instruments at a relatively low cost, in order to replace grandfathered debt or existing Tier 2 debt. This approach will preserve some of their Tier 2 issuance capacity and provide insurers greater financial flexibility in a stress scenario. In a stressed environment, it would be easier to issue Tier 2 debt than Tier 1, which would likely become more expensive.
According to Moody's, an increase in the proportion of loss-absorbing Tier 1 debt is credit positive as it will improve European insurers' quality of capital. Tier 1 securities under Solvency II have loss absorbing features, with the principal subject to partial write-down or conversion if the solvency ratio falls below a certain threshold.
The report, "Insurance -- Europe: Solvency II constraints and favourable refinancing conditions boost Tier 1 issuance," is now available on
www.moodys.com. Moody's subscribers can access this report via the link at the end of this press release. The research is an update to the markets and does not constitute a rating action.
Subscribers can access the report at
http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBC_1093662
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