A.M. Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Ratings of Philadelphia Insurance Companies and Its Members.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the 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. ) to "aa" from "aa-" and 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) of Philadelphia Insurance Companies (Philadelphia) (Bala Cynwyd, PA) and its members. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and ICRs of "a-" of Liberty American Insurance Group (Liberty American) (Pinellas Park Pinellas Park (pĭnĕl`əs), city (1990 pop. 43,426), Pinellas co., W central Fla.; inc. 1915. Mainly residential, it has industries that manufacture electronic equipment and plastics. , FL) and its members. The outlook for all ratings is stable. (See below for a detailed listing of the companies and ratings.) The ratings of Philadelphia recognize its continuing production of superior operating results, maintenance of strong 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. and its excellent market presence as a writer of specialty commercial business. The ratings also acknowledge the group's excellent operating cash flow Operating cash flow Earnings before depreciation minus taxes. Measures the cash generated from operations, not counting capital spending or working capital requirements. and solid liquidity measures. The upgrading of Philadelphia's ICRs reflects the strategic importance of the group to its new parent, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (Tokio Marine) (both of Tokyo, Japan). Philadelphia will play an important and likely growing strategic role in supporting Tokio Marine's global expansion strategy and is expected to benefit from additional distribution avenues made available through Tokio Marine that will enable Philadelphia to make its insurance products available to a wider breadth of potential insureds. The rating actions on Liberty American recognize its strong capitalization and adequate liquidity in support of the current run-off of the group's personal lines business, except for the business it writes under the National Flood Insurance Program The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by the Congress of the United States in 1968 through the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-448). . These positive rating factors are partially tempered by Liberty American's narrow geographic concentration and the inherent susceptibility susceptibility the state of being susceptible. Refers usually to infectious disease but may be to physical factors such as wetting or to psychological factors such as harassment. of its run-off book of Florida property business to catastrophe losses. However, the run-off of the personal lines book is expected to conclude by July 31, 2009. The FSR of A+ (Superior) has been affirmed and the ICRs of "aa-" have been upgraded to "aa" for Philadelphia Insurance Companies and its following members: * Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance indemnity insurance Managed care A type of health insurance in which a Pt can choose the hospital and provider, and the insurer reimburses the Pt or provider for a set percentage of the cost, minus deductibles and co-payments Company * Philadelphia Insurance Company The FSR of A- (Excellent) and ICRs of "a-" have been affirmed for Liberty American Insurance Group and its following members: * Liberty American Insurance Company * Liberty American Select Insurance Company For Best's Credit Ratings, an overview of the rating process and rating methodologies, please visit www.ambest.com/ratings. The principal methodologies used in determining these ratings, including any additional methodologies and factors that may have been considered, can be found at www.ambest.com/ratings/methodology. 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. |
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