A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Western & Southern Financial Group's Subsidiaries; Upgrades Rating of Lafayette Life.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) of The Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc.'s (W&SFG SFG StanCorp Financial Group SFG San Francisco Giants (baseball team) SFG Special Forces Group SFG Sum Frequency Generation SFG Square Foot Gardening SFG Symmetrical Field Geometry (JBL speaker technology) ) core life insurance subsidiaries. The group members include Western and Southern Life Insurance Company (WSLIC WSLIC Western and Southern Life Insurance Company ), Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, Columbus Life Insurance Company, Integrity Life Insurance Company and National Integrity Life Insurance Company (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 ). In addition, A.M. Best has upgraded the FSR to A++ (Superior) from A+ (Superior) of The Lafayette Life Insurance Company (Lafayette Life) (Indiana). Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed 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+" and "aa-" for WSLIC and W&SFG, respectively. Additionally, A.M. Best has affirmed W&SFG's debt rating of "aa-" on $500 million 5.75% 30-year senior unsecured notes, due 2033. All ratings recognize the increasing contribution of the group members to the success of the enterprise, as well as the strong guarantees in place with WSLIC. All companies are domiciled in Ohio, except where specified. The outlook for all ratings is stable. The ratings reflect W&SFG's superior risk-adjusted capitalization, conservative operating profile, broad product portfolio, expanded distribution and consistent earnings. The ratings also recognize the strong regional presence W&SFG has built, particularly in the upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region of the United States with no universally agreed-upon boundary, but it almost always lies within the US Census Bureau's definition of the Midwest and includes the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as at least the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. , and the excellent overall quality and performance of W&SFG's investment portfolio. The group's stable earnings provide strong debt service capacity to support fixed charges, particularly given its low financial leverage. W&SFG's operating fundamentals and expense management programs have contributed to the stable earnings and strong capital base, which provides funds for acquisitions in the insurance and 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. market to supplement organic growth. While the established career agency force has generated the majority of historical profitability, W&SFG's asset-management and retirement-savings subsidiaries leverage their investment management capabilities to provide fee income to the group. However, A.M. Best notes W&SFG's asset management operations are still modest when compared to peers. The intensely competitive nature of the insurance and financial services markets in which the group operates may impact future growth given the challenge to continue their recent growth trends in distribution beyond the group's geographic concentration in the Midwest and the low industry growth rates Growth Rates The compounded annualized rate of growth of a company's revenues, earnings, dividends, or other figures. Notes: Remember, historically high growth rates don't always mean a high rate of growth looking into the future. of traditional life products. In recent years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time lower return retirement savings lines have been the major contributors to growth in revenue and earnings, and competitive pressures may present challenges to grow earnings at levels commensurate with their similarly rated peers. For Best's Debt Ratings, all other Best's Ratings, an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit www.ambest.com/ratings. 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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