A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of MetLife and Its Affiliates; Assigns Issuer Credit Ratings to MetLife's P/C Operating Subsidiaries.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 (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 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC MLIC Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MLIC Mabee Legal Information Center MLIC Maple Leaf International Consulting, Inc (New York, NY) MLIC Multiple Lan Internet Protocol Converter ) and its key life/health affiliates. The FSR has a stable outlook, while the ICRs have a negative outlook. MLIC is the primary insurance company of MetLife, Inc. (MetLife) (both 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 , NY) (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :MET). Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the existing debt ratings of MetLife with a negative outlook. A.M. Best has also affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and assigned ICRs of "a+" to MetLife Auto and Home and its eight fully reinsured subsidiaries led by Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company (both of Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. ). The outlook for these ratings is stable. Additionally, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A (Excellent) and ICR of "a+" for Texas Life Insurance Company (Texas), as well as Citicorp Life Insurance Company (Arizona) and First Citicorp Life Insurance Company (New York). The FSR has a stable outlook, while the ICRs have a negative outlook. In addition, A.M. Best has withdrawn the ICR of "aa" of Paragon Life Insurance Company (Missouri) and assigned a rating of NR-5 (Not Formally Followed), reflecting its merger into MLIC effective May 1, 2006. The ratings on the key life/health affiliates of MetLife reflect its well-established brand name, diverse sources of revenue and earnings, leading market positions in its core business lines, as well as the overall balance of the organization provided by its investment management, property/casualty, international and financial service subsidiaries. Through the acquisition of Travelers in 2005, MetLife achieved increased scale and earnings power, enhanced market positions in its core life and retirement savings businesses and expanded distribution through several of Citigroup's retail channels. Despite the size of the acquisition, MetLife was able to meet aggressive targets to successfully integrate the Travelers companies The Travelers Companies (NYSE: TRV) is the second largest underwriter of commercial property casualty and personal insurance in the United States. The company is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and has major operations in Hartford, Connecticut. and incorporate them into the MetLife infrastructure, enabling them to realize expense efficiencies. The company will continue to create operating efficiencies through consolidation of insurance entities and improve overall branding through the remaining acquired entities. The ability to write products from its Connecticut operations will afford MetLife increased dividend capacity from its operating subsidiaries An operating subsidiary is a business term frequently used within the United States railroad industry. In the case of a railroad, it refers to a company that is a subsidiary but operates with its own identity and rolling stock. . The negative outlook on MLIC and its life/health affiliates' ICRs reflects MetLife's relatively high adjusted financial leverage of approximately 30%, although coverage remains strong. A.M. Best will closely monitor leverage to ensure MetLife is able to manage this down to the pre-acquisition target level of 25% as projected by early 2007. The outlook also reflects the risk-adjusted capital position of MetLife and its operating subsidiaries, which is below A.M. Best's expectations for the current rating levels. A.M. Best will continue to monitor the rate of growth in MetLife's annuity and international product lines in conjunction with its overall level of risk-adjusted capitalization capitalization n. 1) the act of counting anticipated earnings and expenses as capital assets (property, equipment, fixtures) for accounting purposes. 2) the amount of anticipated net earnings which hypothetically can be used for conversion into capital assets. , in addition to its ability to continue to manage challenges associated with products that have equity market exposure and are interest rate sensitive. For a complete listing of MetLife Inc.'s FSRs, ICRs and debt ratings, please visit www.ambest.com/press/050503metlife.pdf. A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at www.ambest.com. |
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