OVERVIEW.A Note to Readers From Jack Snyder For the baseball catcher, see Jack Snyder (baseball)) Jack Snyder is a character on the American soap opera As The World Turns. He has been portrayed by actor Michael Park since April 1, 1997. , Executive Vice President and Chief Rating Officer Welcome to the 2000 edition of our annual Review/Preview report for the insurance industry. This publication is a corporate-wide effort that reflects our observations and opinions derived from our ongoing interaction with virtually every insurance company management team in the country--and increasingly, throughout the world--along with discussions with leading accountants, consultants and trade associations. This report reflects the official view of the A.M. Best Company Our report details the key trends and impacts of the tremendous changes the insurance industry is now experiencing. This year, A.M. Best marks its 100th year as the leading source of information and rating opinions on the insurance industry. It is also a time of change at A.M. Best as our business evolves to respond to these industry dynamics. In just the past year we have: * Introduced free, Internet-based ratings and reports available to insurance buyers anywhere in the world, covering every company and organization that we follow. * Expanded our debt-rating service and issued debt ratings on a growing number of insurance company security issues. * Increased our ability to assess insurers' financial exposures to catastrophic events, including announcing a partnership to develop and enhance catastrophe modeling
* Acquired additional business information companies in the United Kingdom and Canada Canada (kăn`ədə), independent nation (2001 pop. 30,007,094), 3,851,787 sq mi (9,976,128 sq km), N North America. Canada occupies all of North America N of the United States (and E of Alaska) except for Greenland and the French islands of . Through these two new subsidiaries, A.M Best International and A.M. Best Canada, our customers have access to the most comprehensive databases available on those regions. * Introduced Best's Security Icon icon [Gr. eikon=image], single image created as a focal point of religious veneration, especially a painted or carved portable object of the Orthodox Eastern faith. , which is available to all insurers rated Secure (B+ or higher). In addition to being an easily recognized symbol of financial strength, it also is interactive. When placed on an insurer's Web site, Best's Security Icon links directly to that company's free A.M. Best profile report. * Assumed publication of the Captive Insurance Captive insurance companies are limited purpose insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups, they sometimes also insure risks of the parent company's customers. Company Directory, the most comprehensive compendium com·pen·di·um n. pl. com·pen·di·ums or com·pen·di·a 1. A short, complete summary; an abstract. 2. A list or collection of various items. for this important and growing industry segment of alternative risk transfer. * Introduced Best's Viewpoint, a supplement to BestWeek. This new publication presents our commentary, analysis, statistical studies and Rating Monitor. * Introduced Best's Qualified Rating coverage on HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, organizations and are now the leading rating agency in this important segment. * Opened a new office in Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , providing us with regional rating operations on three continents. We take our role as the insurance information source seriously and are committed to serving as the leading source for both information and financial strength ratings on insurers worldwide. Going forward, A.M. Best will continue to develop appropriate dynamic tools, and provide objective and value-added val·ue-add·ed adj. Of or relating to the estimated value that is added to a product or material at each stage of its manufacture or distribution: insights to a rapidly evolving industry. |
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