A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Ameriprise Financial and Its Subsidiaries.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR (Free System Resource) In Windows 3.x, the amount of unused memory in various 64K blocks reserved for managing current applications. Every open window takes some space in this area. See Windows memory limitation. ) of A+ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition or Image Character Recognition) The machine recognition of hand-printed characters as well as machine printing that is difficult to recognize. ) of "aa-" of the following life/health subsidiaries of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Ameriprise Financial) (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :AMP): RiverSource Life Insurance Company (RiverSource) (Minneapolis, MN) and 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. , RiverSource Life Insurance Co. of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the ICR of "a-" and all debt ratings of Ameriprise Financial. The outlook for all ratings is stable. (Please see below for a detailed listing of the companies and ratings.) The ratings reflect the group's strong variable annuity Variable Annuity An insurance contract in which, at the end of the accumulation stage, the insurance company guarantees a minimum payment. The remaining income payments can vary depending on the performance of the managed portfolio. net flows, favorable capitalization and leverage position, strong operating results on both a statutory and GAAP GAAP See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). basis and the manageable credit risk in its investment portfolio. The ratings also reflect the distribution relationships cultivated by Ameriprise Financial, which has bolstered its market position in the variable annuity sector, as evidenced by the strong growth in sales in 2007. Strategic efforts of Ameriprise Financial to improve its distribution productivity and technology have resulted in continued inroads inroads Noun, pl make inroads into to start affecting or reducing: my gambling has made great inroads into my savings inroads npl to make inroads into [+ penetrating its affluent and mass affluent target market. Going forward, A.M. Best believes Ameriprise Financial will be able to leverage its operations and business profile through its varied distribution sources, including the financial advisors networks, banks and independent broker/dealers. Despite large dividends from the insurance entities in 2007, risk-adjusted capitalization remains strong. In addition, Ameriprise Financial suffered only modest levels of credit impairment charges despite volatile market conditions. Partially offsetting these positive factors are Ameriprise Financial's significant exposure to equity market risk, as equity market performance has a considerable and increasing impact on revenue and earnings for Ameriprise Financial. While separate account assets have steadily risen, consistent declines in general account assets have been recorded due to high levels of fixed annuity Fixed Annuity An insurance contract in which the insurance company makes fixed dollar payments to the annuitant for the term of the contract, usually until the annuitant dies. The insurance company guarantees both earnings and principal. outflows. In addition, A.M. Best believes challenges remain with regard to increased levels of competition within core business lines. A.M. Best expects that Ameriprise Financial's adjusted financial leverage ratio will remain below 25% and that future earnings will provide strong debt service coverage. Furthermore, cash flows from non-insurance entities are also available to service holding company debt. The FSR of A+ (Superior) and ICRs of "aa-" have been affirmed for the following life/health subsidiaries of Ameriprise Financial, Inc.: * RiverSource Life Insurance Company (formerly IDS Life Insurance Company) * RiverSource Life Insurance Co. of New York (formerly IDS Life Insurance Company of New York) The ICR of "a-" has been affirmed for Ameriprise Financial, Inc. The following debt ratings have been affirmed: Ameriprise Financial Inc-- -- "a-" on $700 million 5.65% senior unsecured notes, due 2015 -- "a-" on $800 million 5.35% senior unsecured notes, due 2010 -- "bbb" on $500 million 7.518% junior subordinated capital securities, due 2066 The following indicative shelf ratings have been affirmed: Ameriprise Financial, Inc-- -- "a-" on senior unsecured debt Unsecured debt Debt that does not identify specific assets that the debtholder is entitled to in case of default. -- "bbb+" on subordinated debt Subordinated Debt A loan (or security) that ranks below other loans (or securities) with regard to claims on assets or earnings. Also known as "junior security" or "subordinated loan". -- "bbb+" on junior subordinated debt -- "bbb" on preferred stock Ameriprise Capital Trust I, II, III, IV-- -- "bbb+" on preferred securities Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is a global full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial and health care service industries, including insurance companies, banks, hospitals and health care system providers. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. |
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