A.M. Best Downgrades Ratings of PMA Capital Insurance Company; Ratings Remain Under Review with Negative Implications.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has downgraded 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. ) to C++ (Marginal) from B (Fair) and issuer credit rating (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. ) to "b" from "bb" of PMA PMA (papillary-marginal-attached), n a system of epidemiologic scoring of periodontal disease devised by Schour and Massler in which the symbols denote the areas involved in gingival inflammation. PMA Progressive muscular atrophy Capital Insurance Company (PMACIC) (Philadelphia, PA), the run-off operations of PMA Capital Corporation (PMA Capital) (Blue Bell, PA) [NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : PMACA], following the recent reserve strengthening actions occurring during third quarter 2008. Additionally, the ratings remain under review with negative implications as a result of the announcement earlier this year that PMACIC's parent, PMA Capital, entered into a letter of intent and subsequently signed a stock purchase agreement with a third party to sell PMACIC. The ratings of PMA Capital and PMA Insurance Group (Blue Bell, PA) and its members are unchanged. The downgrading downgrading A reduction in the quality rating of a security issue, generally a bond. A downgrading may occur for various reasons including a period of losses, or increased debt service required by restructuring a firm's capital to include more debt and less of PMACIC's ratings reflect the significant reduction in its stand-alone 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. following additional reserve strengthening actions during the first and third quarters of 2008, impacting claims made general liability business and, to a lesser extent, occurrence liability business. Partially offsetting these negative rating factors is PMA Capital's commitment to maintain adequate capitalization to support the run-off operations following the recent reserve strengthening actions. While capitalization remains marginal, A.M. Best expects ongoing financial support from PMA Capital to ensure an orderly run off. The under review status of PMACIC's ratings reflect the planned sale to a third party and uncertainty with the level of commitment of the new parent to sustain operations, as well as the continued execution risk associated with managing the run-off business. 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. Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is a global full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial and health care service industries, including insurance companies, banks, hospitals and health care system providers. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion