A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Commerce Group and The Commerce Group, Inc.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 the 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 Commerce Group (Commerce). These ratings apply to the lead company, The Commerce Insurance Company, and its three inter-company pool members. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the ICR of "a-" of Commerce's publicly traded holding company, The Commerce Group, Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CGI CGI in full Common Gateway Interface. Specification by which a Web server passes data between itself and an application program. Typically, a Web user will make a request of the Web server, which in turn passes the request to a CGI application program. ). A.M. Best has also affirmed The Commerce Group Inc's senior debt rating of "a-" of $300 million 5.95% senior unsecured notes due 2013. The outlook for all ratings is stable. All companies are domiciled dom·i·cile n. 1. A residence; a home. 2. One's legal residence. v. dom·i·ciled, dom·i·cil·ing, dom·i·ciles v.tr. 1. in Webster, MA. The ratings reflect Commerce's solid capitalization, consistently strong operating performance and local market expertise. In addition, Commerce's wholly-owned subsidiaries, Commerce West Insurance Company (Pleasanton, CA) and American Commerce Insurance Company (Columbus, OH), provide geographic diversification and rate flexibility to the group. The ratings further acknowledge Commerce's financial flexibility, which is derived from The Commerce Group, Inc. These positive rating factors are partially offset by the group's concentration of business in Massachusetts and limited product scope, which is focused on private passenger automobile. Commerce's operating performance is strong; however, its results remain influenced by the highly regulated Massachusetts personal automobile market and are susceptible to weather-related losses. As the state's leading writer of personal lines business, Commerce benefits from its brand name recognition, adherence to strict underwriting Underwriting 1. The process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt). 2. The process of issuing insurance policies. fundamentals and in-depth understanding of the personal lines marketplace. The FSR of A+ (Superior) and the ICRs of "aa-" have been affirmed for Commerce Group and its following inter-company pool members: * The Commerce Insurance Company * Citation Insurance Company (MA) * Commerce West Insurance Company * American Commerce Insurance Company The ICR of "a-" has been affirmed for The Commerce Group, Inc. The following debt rating has been affirmed: The Commerce Group, Inc. -- -- "a-" on $300 million 5.95% senior unsecured notes, due 2013 For Best's Debt Ratings, all other Best's Ratings Best's rating A rating A.M. Best Co. assigns to insurance companies based on the company's ability to meet its obligations to its policyholders. , an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit www.ambest.com/ratings. Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is a full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. industries, including the banking and insurance sectors. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. |
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