AMI Insurance Limited has withdrawn from the A.M. Best rating process despite receiving an affirmed financial strength rating of ”A-“ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of "a-".
The rating affirmations reflect AMI's “established business profile and good operating performance”, according to the agency.
When processing the ratings, A.M. Best also considered the support AMI receives from its parent company, IAG (NZ) Holdings Limited, in terms of risk management and strategic initiatives for business integration.
These positive rating factors are partially offset by what A.M Best called AMI's “marginal” risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio.
IAG head of corporate affairs Craig Dowling said: “This is just about alignment more than anything else. AMI, when it was a mutual in New Zealand, used A.M. Best for its financial strength rating, whereas IAG has used, at both its corporate and divisional level, Standard and Poor's (S&P).”
“When IAG in New Zealand purchased AMI in 2012 it was always the intention to transition the provision of our ratings service to S&P from A.M. Best to achieve consistency across our group.”
