Rating Action: Moody's upgrades the holding company debt ratings of eight European insurance groups following a change in methodology 30 May 2018 London, 30 May 2018 -- Moody's Investors Service has today upgraded by one notch the debt ratings of the following insurance holding companies: - Ageas SA/NV and Ageasfinlux S.A. - Atradius Finance B.V. - Bupa Finance Plc - Coface SA - Legal & General Group Plc and Legal & General Finance plc - NN Group N.V. - Sampo Plc and If Property & Casualty Insurance Holding Ltd - Storebrand ASA At the same time, Moody's upgraded to Ba2(hyb) from Ba3(hyb) the rating of the CASHES issued by BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV. Insurance Financial Strength Ratings have not been impacted by this rating action. A full list of ratings impacted is available at the end of this press release. RATINGS RATIONALE This rating action follows yesterday's publication of a new cross sector methodology for assigning instrument ratings for insurers (Assigning Instrument Ratings for Insurers, https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1093824 ). In this methodology, Moody's has modified its guidance for rating certain insurance holding company instruments, and specifically now applies narrower notching for certain insurance groups domiciled in locations with enhanced regulatory supervision at a group-wide level. With respect to European insurers, Moody's considers that Solvency II, the regulatory regime in effect in the European Union and in Norway, is one of the regulatory regimes which provides enhanced group supervision. Solvency II includes key features such as (i) inclusion of the holding company within regulatory oversight, notably through regulatory capital requirements which apply to groups on a consolidated basis in addition to regulatory requirements at the operating company level, and (ii) group-wide risk-assessment and risk-reporting requirements. The rating actions on Ageas, Atradius, Bupa, Coface, Legal & General Group, NN Group, Sampo and Storebrand groups reflect their domicile in the European Union or Norway and the fact that most of their operations are supervised under Solvency II or equivalent regulatory regimes, as detailed below. Ageas SA/NV and Ageasfinlux S.A. Ageas SA/NV (Ageas) is the ultimate holding company of the Ageas Group. It is domiciled in Belgium and subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime. Ageas runs its insurance operations and holds its accounting and regulatory capital primarily in Belgium (46% of 2017 operating profit and approx. 85% of 2017 eligible own funds under Solvency II) via its largest operating subsidiary AG Insurance (Insurance Financial Strength Rating A2 stable) and secondly in Europe ex-Belgium (23% of 2017 operating profit from UK, Portugal, France and Luxembourg), where it holds both consolidated operations and joint ventures with local partners. The Group also holds minority interests and joint ventures in Asia (31% of 2017 operating profit), where insurance operations are mostly run by local banking partners. Ageasfinlux S.A. is a conduit of Ageas Group. Ageas SA/NV is the co-obligor in the debt issued by Ageasfinlux S.A. BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV (CASHES) Convertible And Subordinated Hybrid Equity-linked Securities (CASHES) were issued by Fortis Bank SA/NV (subsequently renamed BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV). However, Moody's rating of CASHES derives from Ageas' credit quality as the terms and conditions of the CASHES include a mandatory deferral trigger tied to dividend payments on Ageas' ordinary shares. CASHES are deeply subordinated securities, which can be redeemed only via conversion into Ageas common shares. BNP Paribas Fortis already owns the equivalent amount of Ageas shares to redeem the residual amount of CASHES. If Ageas does not pay dividend or the dividend yield is below 0.5%, coupons are mandatorily paid with newly issued Ageas common shares. The coupon payment is suspended if Ageas cannot issue the shares. As a result, Moody's rating of the CASHES reflects a higher risk of coupon deferral than for other securities. This action mirrors the upgrade of Ageas' FRESH securities. At the end of 2017, the outstanding amount of CASHES was €821 million, out of which €205 million were included in BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV's Tier 1 capital. Atradius Finance B.V. Atradius Insurance Holding N.V. (Atradius) is the Netherlands based holding company for the group of insurance operating companies that primarily include Atradius Crédito y Caución S.A. (ACyC, Insurance Financial Strength Rating A2 stable), Atradius Trade Credit Insurance Inc. (ATCI, Insurance Financial Strength Rating A2 stable) and Atradius Reinsurance DAC (AtradiusRe, Insurance Financial Strength Rating A2 stable). Atradius is subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime, through Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO), its ultimate parent, that is domiciled in Spain. Atradius earns a significant majority of its premium, and similarly holds its capital, within subsidiaries domiciled under Solvency II group supervision. Atradius Finance B.V. is the financing company of the Atradius group. The debt issued by Atradius Finance B.V. is backed by Atradius N.V. Bupa Finance Plc Bupa Finance Plc is a financing and intermediate holding company of the BUPA Group, whose ultimate parent is BUPA Ltd. Both BUPA Ltd. and Bupa Finance Plc are domiciled in UK and the group is subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime. BUPA Group is a UK-based international healthcare group which in 2017 generated total revenues of GBP12.2 billion. While 27% of revenues are sourced from healthcare provision, around 73% of revenues are originated from gross premiums in private medical insurance, primarily in Australia (45% of gross premiums), UK (26%) and Spain (13%), which are the countries where BUPA Group holds the vast majority of its accounting and regulatory capital. Moody's also notes that each of the above countries has a regulatory regime providing enhanced group supervision. Coface SA Coface SA is the ultimate holding company of the Coface Group of insurance operating entities. It is domiciled in France and is subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime. Coface SA earns a significant majority of its premium, and similarly holds its capital, within subsidiaries domiciled under Solvency II group supervision, primarily Compagnie Francaise d'Assurance pour le Comm. (Insurance Financial Strength Rating A2 stable) that is also domiciled in France. Coface SA's subordinated notes are backed by the group's lead insurance subsidiary, Compagnie Francaise d'Assurance pour le Comm., on a subordinated basis, and are therefore, because of their link to the operating company, not subject to further uplift due to narrower notching of holding company debt. Legal & General Group Plc and Legal & General Finance plc Legal & General Group Plc is the ultimate holding company of the Legal & General Group. It is domiciled in the UK and subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime. Legal & General is an insurance (83% of 2017 operating profits from divisions) and asset management (17% of operating profits from divisions) group, and generates the vast majority of its revenues in the UK (81% of gross premiums in 2017). Legal & General Finance plc is the financing holding company of the Legal & General Group. All debts issued by Legal & General Finance plc are backed by Legal & General Group Plc. NN Group N.V. NN Group N.V. is the ultimate holding company of the NN Group. It is domiciled in the Netherlands and subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime. The main subsidiaries of the group are operating in the Netherlands, with smaller operations in Continental Europe ex-Netherlands and Japan. The group also owns an asset manager and a domestic bank. NN Group's earnings and dividends are primarily sourced via insurance operations in the Netherlands (58% of 2017 operating result on continuing operations and 62% of 2017 dividends upstreamed to the parent) and Continental Europe (16% of 2017 operating result on continuing operations and 12% of 2017 dividends upstreamed to the parent). Sampo Plc and If Property & Casualty Insurance Holding Ltd Sampo Plc is the ultimate holding company of Sampo group. Sampo Plc is domiciled in Finland and therefore subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime, as is the group. Additionally, all of its subsidiaries (If P&C Group; Mandatum Life Insurance Company; minority shareholdings at Topdanmark A/S and Nordea Bank AB) are also domiciled in EU jurisdictions. Sampo group is primarily an insurance group with 60% of 2017 profits before taxes and 63% of 2017 dividends upstreamed to the parent being originated by insurance entities. The remaining portion reflects pro-quota earnings and dividends sourced from Sampo's shareholding in Nordea Bank. Storebrand ASA Storebrand ASA is the ultimate holding company of the Storebrand Group. It is domiciled in Norway and subject to group supervision under the Solvency II regime. The most material subsidiary of Storebrand Group is Storebrand Livsforsikring AS (Insurance Financial Strength Rating Baa1 positive), which is also domiciled in Norway, has material operations in Sweden and is the largest contributor of earnings and regulatory capital to the group. Storebrand Group's earnings are primarily sourced via insurance (68% of 2017 profits before amortisation and writedowns) and asset management operations (28% of profits before amortisation and writedowns), and generated mostly