S&P Assigns 'BBBpi' Rating to BUPA -Asia- Ltd.Business Editors HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's Nov. 26, 2002--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Ratings Service A company, such as Moody's or Standard & Poor's, that rates various debt and preferred stock issues for safety of payment of principal, interest, or dividends. said today that it had assigned its 'BBBpi' insurer financial strength and counterparty credit public information ratings to BUPA BUPA n abbr (= British United Provident Association) → seguro médico privado (Asia) Ltd. (BUPA HK). "The ratings reflect the company's good market position, stable operating performance, liquid investment assets, and satisfactory capitalization. These factors are offset by its high reliance on 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. , which until recently was provided by an unrated sister company," said Standard & Poor's analyst Connie Wong. BUPA HK's ultimate parent is British United Provident Associated Ltd., which was set up in 1947 as a provident association (consisting of members rather than shareholders) to provide private health care services in the U.K., and which is now a leading provider of private health care in that country. BUPA HK primarily underwrites individual and group medical insurance, as well as travel insurance. The company is one of the leading medical insurance providers 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. , with a share of about 10% of the territory's accident and health insurance market in terms of gross premium income. It has a 2% share of the overall Hong Kong general insurance market in which it ranks 13th in terms of gross premium income. BUPA HK has generated stable operating results for the past four years, during which time it has had a combined ratio of 95%-97%. The company's loss ratio is high at 75%, but is supported by a low expense ratio of 20%. All of BUPA HK's invested assets are in cash and deposits, providing high liquidity to meet short-tail medical claims. Amounts due from sister companies include an unsecured callable Callable Applies mainly to convertible securities. Redeemable by the issuer before the scheduled maturity under specific conditions and at a stated price, which usually begins at a premium to par and declines annually. loan of Hong Kong dollar Noun 1. Hong Kong dollar - the basic unit of money in Hong Kong dollar - the basic monetary unit in many countries; equal to 100 cents 66 million to BUPA Investments Ltd. As a short-tail insurer, BUPA HK's capitalization is considered strong. In 2001, the company's shareholders' funds to net premium income stood at 102.5%. BUPA HK has a high reliance on reinsurance for a health insurance underwriter, with a retention ratio of only 51.4% at the end of 2001. In 2001, the company ceded as much as 50% of its business to unrated sister company BUPA Re. The intergroup in·ter·group adj. Being or occurring between two or more social groups: intergroup relations; intergroup violence. reinsurance arrangement, however, ended in January 2002. At 70%, BUPA HK's technical reserve to net premium income is considered adequate for a short-tail insurer. Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's web-based credit analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Fixed Income in the left navigation bar A set of buttons or graphic images typically in a row or column used as a central point that link you to major topic sections on a Web site. If the navigation bar is a single graphic image with multiple selections, it is known as an imagemap. See imagemap. , select Credit Ratings Actions. Copyright 2002, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services |
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