A.M. Best Assigns Issuer Credit Ratings to Guardian Life and Its Subsidiaries; Affirms Financial Strength Ratings.

OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has assigned issuer credit ratings (ICR) of "aa" and affirmed financial strength ratings (FSR) of A+ (Superior) of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) (New York, NY) and two of its subsidiaries. A.M. Best has also assigned ICRs of "a" and affirmed FSRs of A (Excellent) of Guardian's three other subsidiaries. Additionally, A.M. Best has assigned an ICR of "a" and FSR of A (Excellent) to First Commonwealth Insurance Company (Chicago, IL), a Guardian dental subsidiary. All ratings have a stable outlook. (See below for a complete listing of the companies.)

The ratings reflect the Guardian group's strong and improving capitalization, its conservative operating strategy and the high overall quality of its balance sheet--which leads to and supports an exceptional liquidity position. The ratings also consider the group's diversified product portfolio that is supported by strong positions in its core individual life, individual disability and group insurance markets. Partially offsetting these strengths are the challenges to maintain the momentum built within its core operations in the current difficult competitive environment and the concentration of earnings from the group insurance lines, which leads to greater potential volatility.

Through sound operational plans for each of its primary business units, Guardian has experienced above-industry growth rates in its individual life, disability insurance, group dental premium production and in its core field representative distribution channel. A.M. Best believes the organization has made substantial progress in executing various key strategic initiatives, positioning itself to achieve sustainable sales and more stable operating results, while improving its risk profile by de-emphasizing non-core operations and repositioning its asset portfolio.

The ICRs of "aa" have been assigned and FSRs of A+ (Superior) have been affirmed for The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America and its following subsidiaries:

--The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company, Inc.

--Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America

The ICRs of "a" have been assigned and FSRs of A (Excellent) have been affirmed for the following subsidiaries of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America:

--Family Service Life Insurance Company

--Park Avenue Life Insurance Company

--Sentinel American Life Insurance Company

The ICR of "a" and the FSR of A (Excellent) have been assigned to First Commonwealth Insurance Company, a Guardian dental insurance subsidiary.

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.