Bermuda insurance giant RenaissanceRe has become one of the first insurance companies in the world to have its ratings raised after the constant industry downgrades following September 11.

Standard & Poor's raised the East Broadway company's counterparty credit and financial strength ratings to 'AA minus' from 'A plus'.

At the same time, Standard & Poor's raised its counterparty credit rating on RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. to 'A' from 'A minus' and its preferred stock rating on the company to 'BBB plus ' from 'BBB'.

And Standard & Poor's said that the outlook for all these ratings for the RenaissanceRe group was stable.

"The ratings are based on the group's very strong and stable management team, very strong and consistent operating performance, robust cash flow, very strong business position, and extremely strong capital adequacy," said the report. "Offsetting these positive factors is the uncertainty around the long-term performance in diversified specialty reinsurance and individual risk businesses and the potential volatility in operating results."

And it went on to say that RenaissanceRe's underwriting track record of strong and consistent earnings was currently unparalleled.

"The earnings strength is bolstered by very strong cash flow, very strong financial flexibility, and a growing stream of underwriting fee income," it said. "The underwriting performance in the diversified lines of business is unproven, but RenaissanceRe is expected to continue to outperform in the underwriting of property catastrophe reinsurance."

And it said that with more normal property catastrophe loss activity and potentially lower property catastrophe writings in a softening market, earnings were expected to decrease from the extremely strong levels generated in 2003 but remain consistent with the 'AA minus' rating.