AM Best Revises Outlooks to Positive for Members of Stonetrust Insurance Group
25 Julio 2024 - 12:23PM
Business Wire
AM Best has revised the outlooks to positive from stable
and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and
the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of “a-” (Excellent) of
Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Company and Stonetrust Premier
Casualty Insurance Company. The companies are domiciled in Omaha,
NE and are collectively known as Stonetrust Insurance Group
(Stonetrust).
The ratings reflect Stonetrust’s balance sheet strength, which
AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating
performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise
risk management (ERM).
The revised outlooks to positive from stable reflect favorable
trends in Stonetrust’s operating performance that have outperformed
the workers’ compensation composite in key metrics on a five- and
10-year basis. The group has generated more robust underwriting
earnings recently, enhanced by steady net investment income,
contributing to material growth in the group’s surplus position, in
most of the past five years. While the degree of outperformance has
been influenced by outsized reserve releases, underlying
performance tracks with the strongly assessed composite peer
averages. Loss reserve releases are expected to taper and
normalize, though prospective results are expected to remain within
the strong range and continue to outpace composite averages. Return
on invested assets further outpaces the composite, while investment
yields are comparable.
Stonetrust’s overall balance sheet strength assessment considers
the maintenance of the strongest level of risk-adjusted
capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio
(BCAR), comparatively low underwriting leverage, strong liquidity
metrics and consistently favorable loss reserve development. AM
Best assesses the group’s business profile as limited based on its
workers’ compensation book of business, operating primarily in
Louisiana and several other states. Stonetrust’s ERM program is
appropriate for its size and complexity, which prudently
contemplates scenarios that would cause fluctuations in
capital.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been
published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating
to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the
office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings
referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent
Rating Activity web page. For additional information
regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please
view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information
on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance
Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best
press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s
Ratings & Assessments.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and
data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry.
Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in
over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam,
Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information,
visit www.ambest.com.
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Quentin Harris Senior Financial Analyst +1 908
882 1816 quentin.harris@ambest.com Christopher Sharkey
Associate Director, Public Relations +1 908 882 2310
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com Christopher Draghi
Director + 1 908 882 1749 chris.draghi@ambest.com
Al Slavin Senior Public Relations Specialist +1
908 882 2318 al.slavin@ambest.com