ASIA'S only monoline financial guarantor, ASIA Ltd, has been downgraded by Standard & Poor's from A to BB, leaving investors in $1.4bn of guaranteed product with sharply devalued assets. S&P took action because, following sovereign downgrades in Korea and Indonesia, the percentage of sub-investment grade assets guaranteed by ASIA Ltd had risen to around 40%, well above the 25% limit in the company's operating guidelines.
January 23, 1998