Statement on Financial Services Markets and Knights of Columbus
by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson
9/18/08

The upheaval in the financial markets in recent days has caused a great
deal of concern virtually everywhere, among financial services
professionals, regulators and consumers alike. Every major financial
institution has been affected by the turmoil because of the complexity of
our economy, and we are no exception.

But I report to you today that there is no reason to be concerned about the
value of your Knights of Columbus annuity or life insurance.  Because of
our very conservative approach to investing our $14 billion in assets, the
impact on the Knights of Columbus has been minimal – far smaller than for
many other companies and the industry as a whole.  We deliberately refused
to invest in the highly structured and speculative investments that have
brought disaster to some of America’s most well known companies.

What Standard & Poor’s said of us just one month ago when they reaffirmed
our AAA rating for the 16th consecutive year remains true today.  Our
“liquidity is viewed as extremely strong, reflecting an asset portfolio
that consists primarily of high-quality, investment grade bonds.”  S&P also
stated that our “investment portfolio has very strong credit quality” and
our capital adequacy is “among the strongest in the industry.”   That
remains the case today. Our capitalization is, and remains, “extremely
strong.”

Our surplus stood at more than $1.7 billion on June 30 of this year,
providing an unusually large cushion of protection against turmoil of the
sort we have seen in recent weeks.

One crucial area sets us completely apart from firms like AIG, which had
incurred enormous debt. We have no debt at all.

As a result, our financial condition remains extremely strong, and you can
be certain that you are fully protected by one of the strongest and most
reliable insurance programs in the entire industry.