A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A+ (Superior)” and issuer credit ratings of “aa-” of the US property and casualty subsidiaries of Swiss Re and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.
A.M. Best has has affirmed the FSR of “A+ (Superior)” and ICR of “aa-” of Swiss Re’s US life and health subsidiary, Swiss Re Life & Health America (SWLHA).
The ratings of SRLHA reflect its role as a key global operating subsidiary within the Swiss Re group.
SRLHA operates as a marketer of life and health reinsurance solutions for the US, an important global market for Swiss Re, whose life and health reinsurance segment generates approximately one third of Swiss Re group’s worldwide net earned premiums.
The ratings also reflect SRLHA’s adequate risk-adjusted capital position and its leading market position in both the US individual ordinary life and group life reinsurance segments.
Furthermore, SRLHA increased its US ordinary recurring reinsurance market share to 18.2 percent as of year-end 2012, while increasing assumed business production by 7 percent over the prior year.
Offsetting these positive rating factors is the ongoing volatility inherent in SRLHA’s statutory operating performance and balance sheet metrics.
SRLHA has more recently encountered earnings challenges associated with its pre-2004 post level term US business and its March 2013 recapture of yearly renewable term business that had been ceded to Berkshire Hathaway in 2010.
A.M. Best also believes that the ratings of the US property and casualty subsidiaries of Swiss Re and Swiss Re Corp are well positioned at their current level.
Negative rating triggers could occur if there were a significant decline in the risk-adjusted capitalisation or operating performance of the US subsidiaries.
