A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Centurion Life Insurance Company and Centurion Casualty Company.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 (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (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 "a" of Centurion Life Insurance Company (CLIC CLIC Centre Local d'Information et de Coordination (French) CLiC Climate and Cryosphere (World Climate Research Programme project, Norway) CLIC Compact Linear Collider CLIC Connecticut Licensing Information Center ) (Des Moines, IA), a subsidiary of Wells Fargo Financial, Inc. (WFF), whose parent is Wells Fargo & Company (Delaware) (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : WFC). Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and ICR of "a-" of Centurion Casualty Company (CCC CCC A very speculative grade assigned to a debt obligation by a rating agency. Such a rating indicates default or considerable doubt that interest will be paid or principal repaid. Also called Caa. ) (Des Moines, IA), a 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. of Wells Fargo Financial Bank , whose parent is WFF. The outlook for all ratings is stable. The ratings for CLIC reflect its excellent risk-adjusted capital position, consistently positive operating results and growth in new individual annuity business premium. CLIC has expanded its credit insurance business recently due to reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. assumed in combination with direct business written, and it has maintained significant earnings due to its low cost operation and favorable loss experience. Partially offsetting these positive rating factors are the company's limited business profile, traditional mono-line credit insurance product focus and challenges of growing its market position in the highly competitive fixed annuity business. The ratings for CCC recognize its excellent risk-adjusted capitalization, outstanding operating results and the benefits derived from its affiliation with WFF. Partially offsetting these positive rating factors are the company's minimal product diversification, dependency on the consumer finance operations of its parent, significant use of fronting and somewhat ancillary role within the Wells Fargo enterprise. The rating outlook for both companies is based on A.M. Best's expectation that their consistently positive operating performance will continue to drive strong organic surplus growth, supporting excellent capitalization in the near term. For Best's Ratings, an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit www.ambest.com/ratings. 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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