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 Insurance Rating Companies

A.M. Best Company        Standard and Poor's     

A.M. Best Company

The Insurance Information Source®

http://www.ambest.com/

A.M. Best Company is an independent insurance rating expert that publishes financial strength ratings for all insurance companies. They "measure" an insurance company's ability to pay out a claim.

The A.M. Best rating is expressed as a letter grade from AA+ (the highest) to D. Some companies may be assigned ratings of E (indicating regulatory action regarding the company's solvency), F (in liquidation) and S (suspended). In any case, you should only work with companies that have at least a B+ rating.

Our Underwriters in the London Market have an 'AA+' rating by A.M. Best Company.

To see the rating information for Lloyd's: Click here: A.M. Best Company - Lloyd Rating Press Release

A.M. Best Company History

  • A worldwide insurance-rating and information agency with more than 100 years of history. The company was founded in 1899 by Alfred M. Best. Offices are located in the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
     
  • The largest and longest-established company devoted to issuing in-depth reports and financial-strength ratings about insurance organizations. Its flagship publication and database, Best's Insurance Reports, offers the largest coverage of insurers and reinsurers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and worldwide of any interactive rating organization.
     
  • An issuer of fixed-instrument debt ratings that cover bonds, notes, securitization products and other financial instruments issued by insurers and reinsurers. Its debt and commercial paper ratings are used by capital-market issuers and professionals worldwide.
     
  • A publisher of books, directories, CD-ROM products and Internet-based services pertaining to the insurance industry. Products focus on insurance company financial information, underwriting information, providers of legal representation and claims adjusting services to the insurance industry, and company-specific or industry-wide analytical information in the United States, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Asia insurance markets.
     
  • The longest-running, largest and most-recognized source for insurance news. Articles generated by A.M. Best's news staff are published in Best's Review magazine, BestWeek, through its real-time news channels and distributed via more than a dozen international information distributors.
     
  • The premier source for regulatory statement financial information. Best's Statement File products and reports are the industry standard for reliable, accurate and comprehensive statement-source information about insurance organizations operating in the United States and Canada.

Standard and Poor's

http://www.standardandpoors.com
Standard and Poor's is another rating company that publishes financial strength ratings for all insurance companies. They also publish credit ratings, equity research and public company data.

 London Market is Rated 'A' by Standard and Poor's

Read their rating article below:

 'A' Insurer Financial Strength Rating Affirmed; Outlook Stable

Publication date: 14-Jul-2004
Credit Analyst: Stephen Searby, London (44) 20-7176-7053; Rob Jones, London (44) 20-7176-7041
LONDON (Standard & Poor's) July 14, 2004--

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it affirmed its 'A' long-term insurer financial strength rating on the U.K.-based Lloyd's insurance market. The outlook is stable. "The rating reflects the ongoing commitment of capital providers to the Market and the consequent increase in funds at Lloyd's in 2004; the maintenance of Lloyd's strong business position; and the likelihood of the continuation in 2004 and 2005 of the strong operating performance seen in 2003," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Stephen Searby. These positive factors are partly offset by the several nature of the majority of Lloyd's capital base; the Market's contingent exposure to Equitas; and the volatile historical returns experienced by many capital providers
prior to 2002. The stable outlook is based on: -- The main capital providers remaining committed to the market, although there will be a decline in capacity possibly as early as 2005 consistent with prudent management of the underwriting cycle. -- No material deterioration in the solvency of Equitas in the short term. In the medium term, Standard & Poor's considers that the impact of any capital deficiency at Equitas would be manageable by Lloyd's. -- The Central Fund remaining at or near its year-end 2003 level. -- Barring a large catastrophe in the second half of 2004, profits on a pro forma annual accounting basis exceeding those of 2003 with a combined
ratio in the range of 87%-90% and pretax profit, which will be impacted by lower investment returns, in the range of £1.8-£2.2 billion. -- The Franchise Performance Directorate remaining proactive in guiding the Market over the next few years. However, tangible evidence of the effectiveness of the franchise structure at a Market level will not be apparent until 2006 at the earliest. -- Material progress before 2006 with business process reform with, in
particular, improvements in policy production and claims handling. Ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at
www.ratingsdirect.com. It can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find a Rating, then Credit Ratings Search. Alternatively, call one of the following Standard & Poor's numbers: London Ratings Desk (44) 20-7176-7400; London Press Office Hotline (44) 20-7176-3605; Paris (33) 1-4420-6708; Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-225; Stockholm (46) 8-440-5916; or Moscow (7) 095-783-4017.
 

Standard and Poor's Company History

Standard & Poor's is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research, data and valuations. An essential part of the world's financial infrastructure, Standard & Poor's has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions.  Standard & Poor's has a long history of creating standards for the financial industry. For example, they were the first to rate:

  • Securitized financings
  • Bond insured transactions
  • Letters of credit
  • The financial strength of non-U.S. insurance companies
  • Bank holding companies
  • Financial guaranty companies
  • Over $1 trillion in investors' assets is directly tied to S&P indexes - more than all other index providers combined. Standard & Poor's indices include the premier U.S. portfolio index, the S&P 500
  • Standard & Poor's has the world's largest network of credit ratings analysts – more than 1,250 across the globe.
  • More investment professionals use the S&P 500 than any other index in the world.
  • The S&P Global 1200 covers 31 markets and approximately 70% of global market capitalization.
  • Standard & Poor's equity research delivers the largest U.S. stock coverage among equity research firms, including nearly 1,200 U.S.-based and 240 global stocks.
  • Fourteen of Standard & Poor's equity analysts were recently honored in the 11 th annual Wall Street Journal "Best on the Street" 2003 analysts survey. Standard & Poor's equity research ranked #2 overall.
  • S&P launched several new indices in 2003, including the S&P Managed Futures Index, S&P/HKEx Indices for Hong Kong, and the S&P Asia 50, a large cap index covering Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
  • Standard & Poor's funds research offers in-depth mutual fund reports on over 15,000 U.S. domestic mutual funds and ratings on over 1,800 funds worldwide.