AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of UnipolSai Assicurazioni S.p.A.
2024年7月25日 - 2:59AM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A-
(Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-”
(Excellent) of UnipolSai Assicurazioni S.p.A. (Unipolsai) (Italy).
The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
The ratings reflect UnipolSai’s balance sheet strength, which AM
Best assesses as strong, as well as its strong operating
performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise
risk management.
UnipolSai’s risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s
Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), was at the strongest level at
year-end 2023 and is expected to be at least at the very strong
level over the medium term.
Factors supporting the balance sheet strength assessment include
the company’s low reinsurance dependence, good internal capital
generation and good financial flexibility. An offsetting factor is
the material, albeit reducing, concentration of UnipolSai’s
investment portfolio in Italian government bonds (31.6% of
investments at year-end 2023), which exposes its risk-adjusted
capitalisation to volatility. UnipolSai’s solvency capital
requirement (SCR) ratio under Solvency II stood at 322% at the end
of first-quarter 2024.
The risk-adjusted capitalisation for UnipolSai’s holding
company, Unipol Gruppo S.p.A. (Unipol Gruppo), was also at the
strongest level at year-end 2023. Unipol Gruppo is considered to
have a neutral impact on UnipolSai’s ratings, although it has a
higher level of financial leverage than UnipolSai and a weaker
solvency position (SCR ratio 217% at the end of first-quarter
2024).
UnipolSai’s technical performance in 2023 was strong, driven by
sound non-life and life operations, with a return on equity of
10.9% (as calculated by AM Best). Life business profitability
benefited from the rise in interest rates, as evidenced by a
healthy margin of 2.33% (at first-quarter 2024) between the average
yield of segregated accounts and average minimum guarantee.
Non-life technical performance in 2023 was below the company’s
track record, driven by a significant impact of NAT CAT losses and
inflationary pressures, as evidenced by a combined ratio of 98.2%
(as calculated by AM Best).
UnipolSai is one of the two largest players in the Italian
non-life insurance market, with a particularly strong position in
the motor market. Performance is supported by the company’s access
to data and sophisticated pricing capabilities, as well as its
extensive use of telematics applied to the non-life segment.
However, the concentration of its business portfolio in Italy
exposes UnipolSai’s operations to any adverse changes in the
country’s economic, political and regulatory environments.
The merger plan of UnipolSai into Unipol Gruppo is ongoing and
is expected to be finalised before year-end 2024. AM Best does not
anticipate that the credit profile of the combined entity will be
impacted materially by this transaction based on the information
currently available.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been
published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating
to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the
office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings
referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent
Rating Activity web page. For additional information
regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please
view Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings. For information
on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance
Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best
press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s
Ratings & Assessments.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and
data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry.
Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in
over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam,
Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information,
visit www.ambest.com.
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Andrea Porta Financial Analyst +31 20 808
1700 andrea.porta@ambest.com
Jose Berenguer, CFA Associate Director, Analytics
+31 20 808 2276 jose.berenguer@ambest.com
Christopher Sharkey Associate Director, Public
Relations +1 908 882 2310
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com
Al Slavin Senior Public Relations Specialist +1
908 882 2318 al.slavin@ambest.com