S&P Downgrades PMI & Chief MI Sub

Standard & Poor's has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and its long-term counterparty credit and senior debt ratings on the company's parent, The PMI Group Inc.The ratings on PMI MIC were lowered from AA-plus to AA, and the ratings on PMI Group were lowered from A-plus to A, S&P reported. In addition, the rating agency affirmed its AA counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Ltd. and PMI Mortgage Insurance Ltd. The outlook on all the aforementioned ratings has been revised from negative to stable. "The ratings on PMI are driven by the downgrade on the main operating subsidiary, PMI MIC," S&P said. "The downgrade reflects PMI MIC's performance, which is consistent with [that of] its peers, and deterioration in its combined ratio and earnings." The revision of the outlook to stable was attributed to an expectation that PMI MIC "will maintain extremely strong capital-and-expense and combined ratios." The rating agency can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.