A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of National Western Life; Revises Outlook.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 National Western Life Insurance Company (NWL NWL Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. (stock symbol) NWL Northwest League (Boise, Idaho; baseball) NWL Northwoods League NWL North West London NWL Neverending White Lights (band) ) (Denver, CO) [NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : NWLIA NWLIA National Western Life Insurance (stock symbol) ]. The outlook for both ratings has been revised to positive from stable. The rating actions reflect NWL's diverse business profile marketing both to the U.S. and international markets, its solid operating results, superior risk-adjusted capitalization and increasing statutory capital and surplus and GAAP GAAP See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). equity trends. Offsetting these strengths are the challenges to manage its increasing exposure to interest-sensitive annuity and universal life liabilities and continuing to grow its domestic ordinary life businesses. In revising the outlook, A.M. Best acknowledges NWL's competitive position in its international markets that continues to provide diversification of revenue, insurance risk and profitable operating results. In addition, the revised outlook reflects management's concentrated efforts to grow its U.S. domestic ordinary life segment that A.M. Best believes will further diversify NWL's business profile, as well as its initiatives to further enhance and refine its asset/liability and enterprise risk management processes. NWL's net premium growth in recent years has been primarily driven by its equity-indexed annuity (EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance, Arlington, VA, www.eia.org) A membership organization founded in 1924 as the Radio Manufacturing Association. It sets standards for consumer products and electronic components. ) segment. While NWL's annuity growth has resulted in significant interest rate risks, the company's strong risk-adjusted capitalization, surrender charge protection and market value adjustment features partially mitigate these risks. In noting NWL's growth in EIAs, A.M. Best acknowledges its prudent product design and customer profiles, effective hedging programs and active market conduct and compliance programs. However, A.M. Best remains cautious over the potential declines in the industry's future EIA sales and its impact on earnings given the increasing due diligence demanded to comply with the prevailing heightened regulatory environment. 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 full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial services industries, including the banking and insurance sectors. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. |
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