Pursuant to section 8 (1) of the Insurance Companies (Ratings and Inspections) Act 1994, the insurer financial strength rating for TOWER Insurance Limited has been changed to "BBB+" from "A-".
At the same time, the rating has been removed from CreditWatch.
The new rating is the result of the recent loss announced by the TOWER Group for the half year ended 31 March 2003.
This adverse result has primarily occurred following a review of the carrying value of subsidiary companies
in the group's accounts, which does not affect TOWER Insurance's underlying strength.