A.M. Best Affirms and Assigns Ratings to Auto-Owners Insurance Group and Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company.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 assigned 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+" to Auto-Owners Insurance Auto-Owners Insurance is a Fortune 500 company founded in 1916. It is headquartered in Lansing, Michigan and has over 65 full service and claims branches nationwide. Although the name suggests only auto insurance is provided, it actually provides many lines of insurance including Group (Auto-Owners) and its members. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A+ (Superior) and assigned an ICR of "aa-"to Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company (Auto-Owners Life). All the above companies are located in Lansing, MI. The outlook for all ratings is stable. The affirmation of the ratings of Auto-Owners reflects its outstanding 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. , strong earnings and conservative operating philosophy. These positive rating factors are partially offset by Auto Owners' adverse loss reserve development in three of the last five years and its business concentration in Florida and Michigan, which expose the group to weather-related catastrophic events and unfavorable changes in the legislative, judicial and regulatory environment. Auto-Owners' operating results were achieved due to its well-established independent agency relationships, relatively low loss adjustment expenses, diversified product offerings and adherence to strict underwriting Underwriting 1. The process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt). 2. The process of issuing insurance policies. fundamentals. The group's solid capital position is reflective of management's conservative operating philosophy and favorable fa·vor·a·ble adj. 1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds. 2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis. 3. underwriting leverage measures. The ratings also acknowledge Auto-Owners' strong market presence as one of the 25 largest property/casualty insurance organizations 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. , with more than $4.3 billion in net premiums written at year-end 2006. As a strategic life/health and annuity arm of Auto-Owners, Auto-Owners Life's ratings reflect the benefits derived from Auto-Owners' strong capital base and resources available through shared management, technology and distribution. While Auto-Owners Life continues to have relatively limited success in penetrating the much larger property/casualty base, its overall statutory financial results remain stable and sustainable over the five year period. However, the sales and earnings contributions generated by its life and annuity operations remain modest relative to the total enterprise. Nevertheless, Auto-Owners Life is viewed as a strategic contributor to the ongoing success of Auto-Owners. A.M. Best believes Auto-Owners is well positioned to support future growth based on its strong capitalization, historically solid operating performance and controlled diversification initiatives. The FSR of A++ (Superior) has been affirmed and ICRs of "aa+" have been assigned to Auto-Owners Insurance Group and its following property/casualty members: * Auto-Owners Insurance Company * Home-Owners Insurance Company * Owners Insurance Company * Property-Owners Insurance Company * Southern-Owners Insurance Company The FSR of A+ (Superior) has been affirmed and the ICR of "aa-" has been assigned to the life/health and annuity arm of Auto-Owners, Auto-Owners Life Insurance Company. 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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