Amlin Bermuda Ltd., one of ten major insurance companies recently to set up in Bermuda, was yesterday the first in the so-called ?Class of 2005? to win a financial strength rating from leading ratings firm Standard & Poor?s.

Amlin, formed by its namesake, Lloyd?s largest independent insurer, was one of the first of the new Bermuda companies to officially open for business, when it closed its initial capitalisation of $1 billion on December 1.

Standard & Poor?s yesterday said it was assigning an ?A? long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to Amlin Bermuda Ltd. At the same time, S&P assigned a ?BBB+? long-term counterparty credit rating to Amlin PLC, Amlin group?s UK insurer. The outlook on both entities is stable, or unlikely to change.

Amlin Bermuda a week ago earned an A- (Excellent) rating from Oldwick, New Jersey, based ratings firm A.M. Best.

Eight of the ten new Bermuda insurance and reinsurance companies have been assigned ratings by A.M. Best, arguably the most influential of the firms tracking the financial strength of insurance entities.

The wave of 2005 start-ups are gearing up to take advantage of higher premium rates when insurance policies are renewed for 2006, jockeying to be ready for the busy January 1 renewal period. A strong (A- or better) rating can be key to companies? business prospects.

?Despite being a newly formed legal entity, we consider Amlin Bermuda to be a core subsidiary of the Amlin (group),? said S&P credit analyst Peter Grant, owing to the extent of its operational, strategic, and financial integration with the rest of the group, as well as the materiality of its capital base.

?Consequently, the ratings criteria that we would ordinarily apply to a start-up are not relevant in this case,? he said.

S&P said the ratings were constrained by the ?execution risk? involved in setting up Amlin Bermuda.

Each of the new entrants is being watched closely for how they manage to fill key staff positions, given the tight Bermuda employment market, and other infrastructure issues.

And the concentration of the group?s notional exposure to a small number of reinsurance counterparties is also a weakness for its ratings, S&P said.

Amlin?s ratings outlook could be revised to positive if the group were able to demonstrate that its competitive position had been materially strengthened as a result of the formation of Amlin Bermuda, enabling it to achieve its across-the-cycle target of a 15 percent post-tax return on equity.

On the other hand, if operational controls at Amlin Bermuda come under question, particularly in respect to its effective monitoring and control of exposure to large-loss events, the ratings could come under pressure, S&P said.