A.M. Best Takes Various Rating Actions on the Kansas City Life Group of Companies; Revises One Rating Outlook to Stable.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) 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 "a" to Kansas City Life Insurance Company Kansas City Life Insurance Company is a public insurance company established in 1895 and located in Kansas City, Missouri. The company's 1,400 agents market individual life, annuity and group products through agencies located in 48 US states and the District of Columbia. (Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). Life) (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 : KCLI) and its subsidiary, Sunset Life Insurance Company of America. The rating outlook has been revised to stable from negative. Additionally, A.M. Best has upgraded the financial strength rating to B++ (Very Good) from B+ (Very Good) and assigned an ICR of "bbb+" to the group's final expense life insurance subsidiary, Old American Insurance Company (Old American). This rating outlook remains stable. All companies are located in Kansas City, MO. These actions reflect the group's improved risk-based capital position, stable operating performance and enhanced asset quality. Kansas City Life has generated favorable statutory earnings from its established individual life insurance business and adequate GAAP GAAP See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). profitability. In the absence of any material long-term debt Long-Term Debt Loans and financial obligations lasting over one year. Notes: For example debts obligations such as bonds and notes which have maturities greater than one year would be considered long-term debt. , the group's financial flexibility is strong, with access to both external capital as well as a variety of liquidity resources. Additionally, Kansas City Life has begun to make progress in growing its affiliated agent distribution system, which has led to recent growth in individual life sales. Offsetting these factors are the highly competitive market conditions affecting the company's core individual life and annuity lines, as well as compressed profit margins resulting from the prolonged low interest rate environment. The upgrade of Old American's rating reflects the continued strong earnings generated by the company's sizeable block of graded death benefit final expense whole life business, as well as its strong risk-based capital position and low-risk balance sheet. While net premiums written have declined somewhat in recent years, strong statutory operating earnings Operating Earnings Profits after subtracting expenses such as marketing, cost of goods sold, administration and general operating costs from revenue. Notes: Tax and interest expenses are not subtracted - operating earnings are synonymous with EBIT (earnings before will likely continue for the foreseeable future. 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 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. |
|
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion