OREANDA-NEWS. On 10 June 2009 was announced, that Fitch Ratings confirmed financial stability ratings of OJSC SOGAZ by international and national scales (BB and AA-(AA minus)(rus) accordingly) with the “Stable” outlook.

As indicated in the official communication by Fitch Ratings, the confirmation of SOGAZ’s financial stability ratings “reflects good performance of the company in the difficult market situation, strong balance in spite of serious pressure on the investment market, leading market positions of the company in the segment of accident insurance and health insurance, as well as high quality of operational and financial management”.

In the opinion of Fitch analysts, high level of capitalization of SOGAZ - partially ensured by considerable profit - will help the company sustain the pressure on profit which may result from the deterioration in the business environment in Russia. Furthermore, Fitch believes that the company has a potential for gaining certain benefits from its strong market position and reputation, as some insurants may consider switching to stronger insurers.

In his comment, Evgeny Logovinsky, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of SOGAZ Insurance Group, mentioned that the current rating fully corresponds to the ratings initially assigned to SOGAZ by Fitch in March 2008: “SOGAZ’s rating confirmation in the context of rating and rating outlook downgrades for the number of Russian insurance companies is definitely a positive factor”.