---

Standard & Poor's Assigns Midway Insurance Company 'Api' Rating

2 September 1998

Standard & Poor's Assigns Midway Insurance Company of Illinois 'Api' Rating

    NEW YORK, Sept. 2 -- Standard & Poor's today assigned its
single-'Api' insurer financial strength rating to Midway Insurance Co. of IL.
Midway Insurance Company of IL is licensed only in Illinois.  Its major line
of business personal auto, and it is an affiliate of Allianz AG, rated
double-'Api'.  The company commenced operations in 1991.
    Below is a summary of the analysis that resulted in a rating of
single-'Api' rating.

    -- The company cedes 100% of the insurance business it writes to its
parent company, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co.  Ratings denoted with a 'pi'
subscript are insurer financial strength ratings based on an analysis of
published financial information and additional information in the public
domain.  The ratings do not reflect in-depth meetings with an insurer's
management nor do they incorporate material nonpublic information, and are
therefore based on less comprehensive information than ratings without a pi
subscript.  Pi ratings are reviewed annually based on a new year's financial
statements, but may be reviewed on an interim basis if a major event that may
affect an insurer's financial security occurs.
    The pi rating process covers U.S. insurers to which Standard & Poor's
previously assigned quantitative ('q') ratings, and may include information
beyond that used to derive the previous quantitative-only ratings.  Pi ratings
are not modified with 'plus' or 'minus' designations, nor are they subject to
potential CreditWatch listings, Standard & Poor's said. -- CreditWire