A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Old Mutual USA's Life Insurance Subsidiaries.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 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 "a+" of Fidelity and Guaranty As a verb, to agree to be responsible for the payment of another's debt or the performance of another's duty, liability, or obligation if that person does not perform as he or she is legally obligated to do; to assume the responsibility of a guarantor; to warrant. Life Insurance Company (F&G Life) and its 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. , Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Company 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 (FGNY) These companies are the principal insurance subsidiaries of Old Mutual U.S. Life Holdings, Inc. (OMUSLH), which is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Old Mutual plc. Old Mutual plc is an international 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. company based in London, England. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and the ICR of "a-" of Americom Life & Annuity Insurance Company (Americom), a strategic subsidiary of OMUSLH. All companies are headquartered in Baltimore, MD. The outlook for all ratings is stable. F&G Life, FGNY and Americom comprise the U.S. life insurance and annuity operations of their ultimate parent, Old Mutual plc, and are marketed under the name, Old Mutual Financial Network (OMFN). The ratings reflect OMFN's continued strong sales and leading market positions in its niche businesses, especially fixed-indexed annuities, its established distribution relationships and sound asset/liability management Asset/Liability Management A technique companies employ in coordinating the management of assets and liabilities so that an adequate return may be earned. Also known as "surplus management. capabilities. The companies also benefit from the financial strength and support of Old Mutual plc, which has historically provided the capital necessary to support business growth in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . These strengths are offset by the group's continuing statutory operating losses operating loss The excess of operating expenses over revenue. As with operating income, operating losses exclude revenues and expenses from operations that are not considered a regular part of the business. Also called deficit. Compare operating income. and its operational concentration in the highly competitive individual annuity marketplace. A.M. Best notes that operating losses over the last several years have been largely caused by expense strain from robust annuity production. However, OMFN has made progress in expanding life sales, with a focus on marketing mortgage term and universal life through brokerage distribution. Additionally, due to OMFN's sales being driven predominantly by individual annuities, the group has considerable exposure to interest-sensitive liabilities (95% of reserves). Due to its concentration in annuity liabilities, OMFN is exposed to substantial interest rate risk, especially spread compression at times of low interest rates. A.M. Best recognizes that the group's effective asset/liability management and hedging programs serve to substantially mitigate interest rate and equity market risk under a broad range of economic scenarios. A.M. Best notes that the life companies' assets are managed by Old Mutual Asset Management, the U.S. asset management group of Old Mutual plc. For Best's Ratings, an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit www.ambest.com/ratings. For current Best's Ratings, independent data and analysis on more than 1,100 individual life/health companies and A.M. Best groups, please visit www.ambest.com/lh. 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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