A.M. Best upgrades NYMIR

A.M. Best has upgraded the financial strength rating to A from A- and issuer credit rating to “a” from “a-” of New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal (NYMIR) (Albany, NY). The outlook for both ratings has been revised to stable from positive.

The ratings upgrade reflects NYMIR’S excellent capitalization, operating results that consistently outperform the commercial property/casualty industry and high policyholder retention. The stable outlook acknowledges A.M. Best’s expectation that NYMIR will continue to produce favorable operating trends while maintaining a solid level of risk-adjusted capitalization.

NYMIR enjoys a strong market niche derived from sponsorships received from three statewide municipal associations. NYMIR benefits from its status as a tax-exempt, not-for-profit reciprocal. Partially offsetting these positive rating factors is NYMIR's geographic and business concentration derived from exclusively writing multiple lines of business for municipal entities in New York.

A.M. Best views NYMIR’s ratings to be well positioned at their current level.

Negative rating actions could occur if the capitalization and/or operating performance at NYMIR fall markedly short of A.M. Best’s expectations, including a significant deterioration in loss trends, material operational and performance issues and any sudden and unforeseen disruption in its distribution.

Negative rating pressure also could occur if the business profile of the company changes materially.