A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited; Revises Outlook to Negative.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of "a" of Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited (Guardian Life) (Port of Spain Port of Spain, city (1990 pop. 50,878), capital of Trinidad and Tobago, on the Gulf of Paria. It is the industrial and commercial center of the country. From 1958 to 1962, Port of Spain was the capital of the dissolved Federation of the West Indies; in 2005 it became , Trinidad). The outlook for both ratings has been revised to negative from stable. Guardian Life is a major life insurance subsidiary of its publicly traded holding company, Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL GHL Guideline Harvest Level (commercial fishing) GHL Greenland Halibut ) in Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (trĭn`ĭdăd, təbā`gō), officially Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, republic (2005 est. pop. 1,088,000), 1,980 sq mi (5,129 sq km), West Indies. The capital is Port of Spain. . The negative outlook reflects Guardian Life's lower operating results; significant volatility in its overall earnings due primarily to the impact of fluctuations in the value of its large equity portfolio; and net losses for the GHL group on a consolidated basis for the year ended 2006. Guardian Life's significant investments in local equities include a large concentration in several regional stocks. Overall earnings of the company are highly dependent on stock market investment performance. The stock market in Trinidad and Tobago suffered a large drop in 2006 following losses in 2005 and may continue to remain volatile going forward. A.M. Best will continue to monitor GHL and Guardian Life's operating results from the impact of their large exposure to equities and other more volatile investments. On an operating basis, excluding the impact of stock market volatility, Guardian Life's gains from the core insurance operations have demonstrated steadily increasing in recent years. In addition, the ratings also reflect the competitive nature of the Trinidad insurance market and continued integration challenges associated with acquisitions at the GHL level. The ratings continue to reflect Guardian Life's integral role within the GHL group, its conservative reserving practices and diversified diversified (di·verˑ·s business profile. Guardian Life continues to have strong brand name recognition in Caribbean markets with growth opportunities within the group insurance segment, as well as Latin American markets. For 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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