A.M. Best Assigns Ratings to ACE Life Insurance Company.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and an issuer credit rating of "a" to ACE Life Insurance Company (ACE Life) (Stamford, CT). The outlook for both ratings is stable. ACE Life is a start-up operation recently acquired by ACE Group Holdings, Inc. ACE Life is ultimately owned by ACE Ltd (ACE) (Cayman Islands Cayman Islands (kā`mən), British dependency (2005 est. pop. 44,300), 100 sq mi (259 sq km), comprising three islands in the West Indies. ), and it offers ACE a platform to enter into the traditional U.S. life reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. marketplace. ACE Life is licensed in 49 states and will initially write mortality reinsurance on both a yearly renewable term (YRT YRT York Region Transit (Ontario) YRT Yearly Renewable Term (insurance) YRT Yale Repertory Theatre YRT Year Round Training (military) ) and co-insurance basis, with a focus on companies seeking reserve relief from regulation XXX as well as excess mortality cover. The business model also calls for modest volumes of group life reinsurance. The U.S. life reinsurance area has undergone significant consolidation and price hardening hardening, in metallurgy, treatment of metals to increase their resistance to penetration. A metal is harder when it has small grains, which result when the metal is cooled rapidly. in recent years; thus, A.M. Best believes there is opportunity and room for additional entrants. Moreover, ACE has been active in the variable annuity Variable Annuity An insurance contract in which, at the end of the accumulation stage, the insurance company guarantees a minimum payment. The remaining income payments can vary depending on the performance of the managed portfolio. secondary guarantee reinsurance market and has issued modest volumes of traditional life reinsurance through ACE Tempest Life Reinsurance Ltd (Bermuda). Additionally, ACE has a growing presence in the primary life market in a number of emerging markets. A.M. Best believes ACE Life's business model is reasonably conservative and fully expects ACE to provide the necessary capital support to meet A.M. Best's expectations. Furthermore, ACE Life will have significant retrocession RETROCESSION, civil law. When the assignee of heritable rights conveys his rights back to the cedent, it is called a retrocession. Erskine, Prin. B. 3, t. 5, n. 1; Dict. do Jur. h.t. arrangements in place, which lend further capital support to its new business activities. Offsetting rating factors include the lack of U.S. operating history and the uncertainties surrounding the successful execution of its business plan. In addition, A.M. Best believes the rate of growth of the U.S. life reinsurance market has slowed, which may pressure ACE Life's longer-term growth prospects. For Best's Ratings Best's rating A rating A.M. Best Co. assigns to insurance companies based on the company's ability to meet its obligations to its policyholders. , 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 330 reinsurance companies, please visit www.ambest.com/reinsurance. 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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