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A.M.Best has upgraded the financial strength of International General Insurance (Bermuda), and International General Insurance Company (UK) to A (excellent) from A- (excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating to “a” from “a-”.
In addition, the long-term ICR was upgraded to “bbb” of the non-operating holding company, International General Insurance Holdings (United Arab Emirates).
The rating company noted that the outlook of these credit ratings has been revised to stable from positive.
A.M. Best categorised IGI’s balance sheet strength as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).
The upgrade reflected IGI’s resilient operating results, which have been driven by robust underwriting performance over the longer term, according to the rating company.
Despite the impact of catastrophe losses in 2017, the firm has a five-year average combined ratio of 90 percent between 2014 and 2018.
A.M. Best viewed IGI’s underwriting discipline as a key driver of its good financial results and expects the company to report strong, albeit potentially volatile profits in prospective years.
IGI’s balance sheet strength assessment is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by best’s capital adequacy ratio (BCAR), as well as its good liquidity, conservative investment portfolio and reinsurance panel of good credit quality.
A.M. Best said it expects the company to achieve measured growth over the medium to long term, while maintaining a focus on underwriting performance.
It added that IGI’s ERM framework is “well-developed” and its risk management capabilities are “aligned appropriately with its risk profile”.
A.M Best stated that IGICL and IGIUK are both fundamental to IGI’s overall strategy and integrated with the group through shared management functions and an internal reinsurance programme.
