Standard & Poor's Global Ratings said yesterday in a media release that it had kept its A- financial strength and issuer credit ratings on Macquarie Life Ltd, but had placed MLL on "CreditWatch with negative implications". This statement is a delayed reaction to the announcement on 4 March by the Macquarie Group that it had entered into an agreement to sell its Macquarie Life insurance business, part of its banking and financial services group, to Zurich Australia Limited.S&P said it could lower the ratings on MLL by at least one notch as it is concerned over the post-sale prospects for the remaining operations under the Macquarie Life banner. "Should the remaining businesses be placed in run-off, the ratings on MLL would likely be limited to the upper range of the BBB category," S&P warned.S&P also noted that, under its ratings criteria, MLL was considered a "nonstrategic subsidiary" of Macquarie Bank Ltd, and therefore its ratings were not weighted to reflect a wider group support. Macquarie Bank is currently rated A (stable) by S&P.Should Macquarie manage to rebuild its remaining post-sale insurance business, such that it can benefit from any scaling up of its current operations, S&P said it would rethink its rating.Macquarie Group's announcement of the deal in early March said the transaction was expected to be completed in the second half of the 2016 calendar year, subject to regulatory and court approvals. Macquarie Life's Australian based staff will transfer to Zurich as part of the acquisition.At that time, Greg Ward, head of Macquarie's Banking and Financial Services Group, said "the sale of the business reflects the need for significant scale in the capital intensive life insurance industry in order to drive appropriate returns."