AM Best Places Credit Ratings of Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company Under Review With Developing Implications
2024年8月3日 - 4:42AM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
AM Best has placed under review with developing
implications the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the
Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb” (Good) of Connecticut
Attorneys Title Insurance Company (CATIC) (Essex Junction, VT).
The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect CATIC’s balance sheet
strength, which AM Best assesses as adequate, as well as its
adequate operating performance, limited business profile and
appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).
The ratings reflect AM Best’s revised assessment of CATIC’s
overall balance sheet strength to adequate from a strong level due
to continued deterioration in policyholder surplus, as well as
uncertainty around the legacy loss coming from their run-off
captive. The deterioration in surplus in recent years is due to the
culmination of negative implications arising from the interest rate
environment and dividends outpacing net results. The under review
with developing implications status reflects CATIC’s efforts to
strengthen the balance sheet to support business expansion and
stabilize pressure on its balance sheet strength assessment, given
the ongoing market challenges regarding profitability and
improvement in surplus levels.
CATIC’s unfavorable five-year average combined and operating
ratios underperform the title insurance industry composite due to
its high expense ratio in support of their expansion efforts.
However, the company has improved these ratios in the past five
years and generated profits in four of those years, supporting the
adequate operating performance assessment. CATIC continues to
maximize growth investments while concurrently deploying expense
reduction initiatives to alleviate its high expenses and improve
its operating results. The limited business profile reflects the
concentration that CATIC has as a monoline title insurer. AM Best
views CATIC’s ERM as appropriate as the company has an established
framework with a defined appetite and tolerances that are utilized
to articulate the level and type of risks that are acceptable to
CATIC.
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 specializing 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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Chul Lee Senior Financial Analyst +1 908 882 2005
chul.lee@ambest.com
Christopher Sharkey Associate Director, Public
Relations +1 908 882 2310
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com
Fred Eslami Associate Director +1 908 882
1759 fred.eslami@ambest.com
Al Slavin Senior Public Relations Specialist +1
908 882 2318 al.slavin@ambest.com