AM Best cuts AMI Insurance's rating

AM Best Co has downgraded the rating of New Zealand fire and general insurer AMI Insurance Ltd due to losses from the Canterbury earthquake.

The financial strength rating has moved to A minus from A plus and the issuer credit rating to A minus from AA minus. Both ratings have been placed under review with negative implications. The A minus financial strength rating is called excellent, while the A plus rating is superior.

AM Best said it understood that capital raising initiatives were being pursued by AMI's management and it had the ratings under review with negative implications while discussions continued with management regarding back-up capital plans.

The downgrades reflected AM Best's view of the negative impact on AMI's capitalisation, due to the latest loss development from the Canterbury earthquake in February 2011.

AM Best was concerned with AMI's risk management in relation to its aggregate catastrophe exposures.

AMI is the largest wholly New Zealand-owned fire and general insurance company. It is a mutual, meaning it is owned by its customers.

NZPA

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

7th December 2021 Morning Report
Sky Network Television Limited (NZX: SKY) Transformation accelerates - Sky raises FY22 guidance
PGG Wrightson Limited (NZX: PGW) FY22 Operating EBITDA forecast to better last year
Vulcan Steel Limited (NZX: VSL) Trading Update & Earnings Upgrade
6th December 2021 Morning Report
Synlait Milk Limited (NZX: SML) Partnership to enhance soil health; test regen ag practices
Property for Industry Limited (NZX: PFI) Strong Valuation Outcome, Penrose Acquisition
3rd December 2021 Morning Report
Fonterra Shareholders Fund (NZX: FSF) Fonterra provides Milk Price, earnings and Q1 update
Kiwi Property Group Limited (NZX: KPG) Signs Sale and Purchase Agreement with IKEA