Moody’s grades Aviva issuance Baa

Rating agency Moody’s has graded an innovative Tier 1 instrument (the notes) to be issued by Aviva as Baa.

The issuance is from Aviva’s EMTN programme, and its outlook is negative, in-line with the outlook for the Aviva Group.

Moody's stated that the Baa1(hyb) rating assigned to the notes reflects standard notching (vs. the A3 subordinated rating of Aviva) for insurance securities.

The note is ratable by Moody's because although it contains a "variation or exchange" provision, the conditions under which the security could be varied/exchanged, and the nature of changes that could be made, are limited in ways that retain important protections for investors.