OLDWICK, N.J. -- The Treasury Department and banking regulators unveiled several initiatives to unlock frozen credit markets and help restore confidence in the nation's banking system amid a growing global financial crisis. The Treasury Department will directly invest as much as $250 billion in financial institutions as part of the...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. will be sponsoring and exhibiting at the American Bankers Association 2008 Annual Convention, Market Expo & Directors' Forum, November 9-12 at the Hilton San Francisco. Representatives will be available at booth #706 to discuss A.M. Best's interactive credit ratings for U.S. banks. A.M....
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating FSR of A+ Superior and downgraded the issuer credit ratings ICR to "aa-" from "aa" of Allstate Insurance Group Allstate and its members. Additionally, A.M. Best has downgraded the ICR to "a-" from "a" and the debt ratings...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to B+ Good from B++ Good and issuer credit rating to "bbb-" from "bbb" of The American Road Insurance Company TARIC (Dearborn, MI). The outlook for both ratings is negative. TARIC's capitalization and operating performance has been...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating FSR of A- Excellent and issuer credit rating ICR of "a-" of Commonwealth Annuity and Life Insurance Company Commonwealth (Worcester, MA). The outlook for both ratings is stable. Commonwealth is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group,...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- U.S. life and annuity companies face an increasingly complex macroeconomic climate, with negative operating and net income trends and continuing adverse capital market conditions through third quarter 2008. Amid failing financial institutions and impending U.S. government intervention, financial flexibility remains diminished. Significant realizable capital erosion remains a...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating FSR of A- Excellent and issuer credit rating ICR of "a-" of Ohio Indemnity Company Ohio Indemnity (Columbus, OH). Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the ICR of "bbb-" of Ohio Indemnity's parent, Bancinsurance Corporation Bancinsurance (OTC BB: BCIS)....
OLDWICK, N.J. -- Learn how insurers keep Major League Baseball's owners, teams and star players "safe" in the October issue of Best's Review, the award-winning monthly publication of A.M. Best Co. In the cover story, "Covering the Bases," Senior Editor Robert O'Connor writes from London that specialty insurers like...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- After nearly a year of problems, the U.S. financial guaranty insurance industry finally saw its first casualty of the credit crunch in the second quarter, with the deal placing Maryland-based ACA Financial Guaranty into run off, according to a story in BestWeek U.S./Canada. Corporate parent ACA...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating FSR to A Excellent from A- Excellent and issuer credit ratings to "a" from "a-" of American Southern Group American Southern and its members. These ratings apply to American Southern Insurance Company (Topeka, KS), and its wholly-owned and...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has withdrawn the issuer credit rating of "bbb-" of ProCentury Corporation ProCentury (Westerville, OH). This rating action is due to the completion of the merger of ProCentury and MBKPC Corp. Merger Sub, a subsidiary of Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. Meadowbrook (Southfield, MI) (NYSE:...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- After a tumultuous first quarter of scheduled and surprise cuts in the overnight federal funds target rate, the Federal Reserve Board voted 9-1 in second quarter 2008 to keep the target rate at a low 2.00%. The lone dissenter was Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- The nation's commercial banks have experienced persistent margin compression since the start of 2005 and well into the second quarter of 2008 for a host of different reasons. When the Federal Reserve Board first began raising the short-term target rate in mid-2004, the yield curve was trending...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has assigned a debt rating of "bbb" to the recently issued $800 million 9.0% junior subordinated notes of Prudential Financial, Inc. PFI (Newark, NJ) (NYSE: PRU). The outlook for the rating is positive. The ratings of PFI's domestic life/health insurance companies and existing debt...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has assigned a debt rating of "bbb" to the recently issued $600 million 8.875% fixed-to-floating rate junior subordinated notes of Prudential Financial, Inc. PFI (Newark, NJ) [NYSE: PRU]. The outlook for the rating is positive. The ratings of PFI's domestic life/health insurance companies and...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- Best's Review's June cover story "A Weighty Issue," reports how the increasing numbers of obese Americans is impacting the workplace and workers' compensation claims. According to the article, a Duke University Medical Center study found that obese workers filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims and...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of B++ Good and issuer credit rating of "bbb" to Group Insurance Trust of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants The Trust (Redwood City, CA), a sponsored Trust of the California Society of CPAs CalCPA. The outlook...
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. will exhibit at the America's Health Insurance Plans Institute 2008 conference, scheduled for June 18-20 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, CA. Company representatives will be available at booth #230 to discuss A.M. Best's interactive credit ratings for health insurers.
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has assigned issuer credit ratings ICR of "aa-" and affirmed the financial strength rating FSR of A+ Superior of Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company FILI (Salt Lake City, UT) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company EFILI (New York, NY)....
OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has revised the rating outlook to positive from stable for Central Reinsurance Corporation Central Re Taiwan. At the same time, A.M. Best has affirmed Central Re's financial strength rating of A- Excellent and issuer credit rating ICR of "a-".
