Latest AM Best Headlines
All the headlines from our AM Best Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Orchid Insurance, Homesite Launch Homeowners Insurer TRUE in Florida
Nov 16 2020 // Orchid Underwriters Agency, LLC (Orchid), a specialty underwriter of catastrophe-exposed property insurance, and Homesite Group, a national property insurer, have created TRUE, a reciprocal insurance company to protect...
13 New U.S. Property/Casualty Insurer Impairments in 2019
Nov 16 2020 // The U.S. property/casualty industry saw 13 new insurance company impairments in 2019, two more than in 2018, involving entities operating in a mix of lines of business and a variety of states, according to a new AM Best...
Professional Liability Underwriters Feeling Pressure From COVID: AM Best
Nov 13 2020 // The COVID-19 pandemic is creating varying levels of disruption for writers in the U.S. professional liability insurance market, with many expecting a sizable increase in claims, according to a new AM Best report. With its...
Rating Outlooks for United Equitable, American Heartland Insurance Revised to Negative
Nov 6 2020 // AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of C++ (Marginal) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “b” for United Equitable...
U.S. P/C Insurer Impairments Rise Slightly in 2019: AM Best
Nov 5 2020 // The U.S. property/casualty industry saw 13 new insurance company impairments in 2019, two more than in 2018, involving entities operating in a mix of lines of business and a variety of states, according to a new AM Best...
AM Best Upgrades Credit Rating of Upland Mutual Insurance in Kansas
Nov 4 2020 // AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to “bbb+” from “bbb” and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) of Junction, Kansas-based Upland Mutual...
AIG’s Plan to Divest Life & Retirement Business Could Prompt Ratings Downgrades
Nov 2 2020 // American International Group’s plan to downsize by divesting its Life & Retirement (L&R) business is drawing cautious and wary reactions from rating agencies that follow the property/casualty insurance...
AM Best’s Estimates for U.S. Insurers’ Asbestos & Environmental Losses Unchanged
Oct 22 2020 // AM Best said its estimates of $100 billion in asbestos losses and $46 billion in environmental losses for the U.S. property/casualty industry remain unchanged as of year-end 2019. In a report, AM Best notes that A&E...
Golden Bear in California Upgraded by AM Best
Oct 22 2020 // AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a” from “a-” of Golden Bear Insurance Co. in Stockton, Calif. The...
Ratings of Texas’ Hallmark Financial No Longer Under Review with Negative Implications
Oct 20 2020 // AM Best has removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “bbb-” and the Long-Term Issue Credit Ratings (Long-Term IR) of Hallmark...
AM Best Upgrades Credit Ratings for Members of Arbella Insurance Group
Oct 15 2020 // AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings to “a” from “a-” of Arbella Mutual Insurance Company and its three...
Nigerian Insurance Market Faces Challenges to Realize Its Potential: AM Best
Oct 9 2020 // Nigeria’s insurance market has great potential given its position as Africa’s largest economy, its substantial oil and gas reserves and its young and growing population. Yet Nigeria’s insurance market has...
P/C Mutual Insurers Improved Underwriting in 2019: AM Best
Oct 5 2020 // Top 10 Hold 72% of Market: AM Best Despite a highly competitive property/casualty insurance industry and pressures on operating performance, U.S. mutual insurance companies reported continued improvement in underwriting...
What Ever Happened to Hedge Fund Reinsurers?
Sep 25 2020 // The latest group of reinsurers to emerge in the Bermuda market is starting to look different. Even the name that once described the cohort has changed in the past five years. And at least one member of the group of...
P/C Mutual Insurers Improved Underwriting in 2019; Top 10 Hold 72% of Market: AM Best
Sep 22 2020 // Despite a highly competitive property/casualty insurance industry and pressures on operating performance, U.S. mutual insurance companies reported continued improvement in underwriting performance in 2019 and managed to...
Schools Find Lessons About Insurance Liability and COVID-19 Are Complicated
Sep 21 2020 // School officials and insurers across the country are facing questions about COVID-19-related insurance liability as classes begin, but answers remain elusive, according to A.M. Best. “Uncertainty about the plethora...
NFIP’s Flood Losses Expected to Be ‘Significant’ from Hurricane Sally: AM Best
Sep 18 2020 // Hurricane Sally is not expected to cause a major insurance loss – compared to events such as the ongoing wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington, or Hurricane Laura, according to AM Best. As the storm was more of...
In a First, State Farm to Acquire Texas Nonstandard Auto Insurer GAINSCO
Sep 17 2020 // State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. is acquiring Dallas-based nonstandard auto insurer, GAINSCO, in a $400 million cash transaction. It will be the first time in State Farm’s 98-year history that it has...
NHC: Tropical Storm Sally Strengthens to Hurricane
Sep 14 2020 // Update 4:00 pm EST: Louisiana and Mississippi residents were under evacuation orders on Monday as Hurricane Sally churned across the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening to a hurricane ahead of expected landfall on Tuesday, the...
NHC: Tropical Storm Sally Strengthens to Hurricane
Sep 14 2020 // Louisiana and Mississippi residents were under evacuation orders on Monday as former Tropical Storm Sally strengthened to a hurricane status and churned across the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center...