[2] S&P Assigns Intermed Insurance Co. 'BBBpi' Rtg.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's-- Dec. 2, 1999-- Standard & Poor's today assigned its triple-'Bpi' financial strength rating to Intermed Insurance Co. Intermed Insurance Co. (Intermed) is a reciprocal company based in Springfield, Mo., and licensed only in Kansas and Missouri. In addition, the company is an authorized surplus lines writer in Texas. Its major line of business is medical malpractice Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. (occurrence and claims-made) marketed to physicians and dentists. The company, which distributes its products primarily through independent general agents and direct marketing strategies, commenced operations in 1977. Almost all of its business lies in its major states of operation -- Missouri, Texas and Kansas. Intermed is a subsidiary of Tenere Group Inc. (Tenere), an insurance holding company, which is also the parent of Interlex Insurance Co. and of Insurance Services Inc., the management company of Tenere. Intermed is also a member of FPIC FPIC First Professionals Insurance Company (Jacksonville, FL) FPIC Field Programmable Interconnect FPIC Federal Partnership for Interoperable Communications FPIC Field Programmable Interconnect Chip Insurance Group Inc., a publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. (Nasdaq:FPIC), after Florida Physicians Insurance Co. (FPIC) merged its wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. , TGI TGI Tribunal de Grande Instance TGI Target Group Index TGI Thank God It's Friday (US restaurant chain) TGI Tracheal Gas Insufflation TGI Tumor Growth Inhibition TGI Trato Gastrointestinal (Portugese) Acquisition Corp., into Tenere Group Inc. in March 1999, to become the ultimate parent company of Intermed. As a 100% reinsured affiliate of FPIC, Intermed is assigned FPIC's rating of triple-'Bpi'.
Major Rating Factors:
-- The company's stand-alone five year average return on revenue, at
negative 10.4%, is considered marginal. Further, the company's
surplus declined by 21.3% in 1998 as it experienced an operating
ratio of 168.9%.
-- The company's previous operating results have also been volatile,
with return on assets, for example, ranging from negative 8.8% to
positive 4.8% over the last five years.
The company's geographic and product line concentration is high. Currently, 66.1% of net premiums written are in Missouri. Capitalization is more than adequate, as indicated by Standard & Poor's capital adequacy ratio Capital adequacy ratio (CAR), also called Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio (CRAR)[], is a ratio of a bank's capital to its risk. National regulators track a bank's CAR to ensure that it can absorb a reasonable amount of loss. of 229.7% at year-end 1998. However, the NAIC NAIC See National Association of Investors Corporation (NAIC). risk-based capital ratio Risk-based capital ratio Bank requirement that there be a minimum ratio of estimated total capital to estimated risk-weighted asset. , at 206.8%, is below the industry median. 'Pi' ratings, denoted with a 'pi' subscript, are insurer financial strength ratings based on an analysis of an insurer's published financial information and additional information in the public domain. They do not reflect in-depth meetings with an insurer's management and are therefore based on less comprehensive information than ratings without a 'pi' subscript. 'Pi' ratings are reviewed annually based on a new year's financial statements, but may be reviewed on an interim basis if a major event that may affect the insurer's financial security occurs. Ratings with a 'pi' subscript are not subject to potential CreditWatch listings. Ratings with a 'pi' subscript generally are not modified with 'plus' or 'minus' designations. However, such designations may be assigned when the insurer's financial strength rating is constrained by sovereign risk Sovereign Risk The risk that a foreign central bank will alter its foreign-exchange regulations thereby significantly reducing or completely nulling the value of foreign-exchange contracts. or the credit quality of a parent company or affiliated group, Standard & Poor's said. -- CreditWire |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion