Standard & Poor's grant PZU A- grade

London based rating agency Standard & Poor's granted PZU, the largest domestic insurer an A- grade. "This is the highest rating granted by S&P to any financial institution in Central Europe. This is the level of leading Western insurers. This shows our strong regional position," said PZU president Cezary Stypułkowski. He added that this was an important signal to investors on the eve of floating the insurer's shares, which might increase its value and confirms the efficiency of the management. However, while S&P evaluated PZU's loan portfolio structure as being good, it is nevertheless of concern to some. "We are working on diversifying our portfolio and improving our profitability," said Stypułkowski. Unresolved ownership disagreements were not taken into consideration, but S&P stressed that such data would be more important in the future. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 6) M.M.