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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLDWICK - OCTOBER 18, 2018 02:09 PM (EDT)
A.M. Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a” from “a-” of Insurance Company of the West and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Explorer Insurance Company and VerTerra Insurance Company (collectively referred to as ICW). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) has been revised to stable from positive. All companies are headquartered in San Diego, CA.
The ratings reflect ICW’s balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorizes as strongest, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.
The ratings upgrade is based on ICW’s improved operating and underwriting results over the past several years, driven primarily by favorable loss experience in its leading line of business, workers’ compensation. As a result, ICW’s five-year average combined and operating ratios outperformed those of the workers’ compensation composite. Additionally, ICW’s technology platform has resulted in both operating and underwriting efficiencies, enabling ICW to optimize risk selection and pricing. Further, ICW’s surplus has grown considerably due to the better-than-average underwriting performance coupled with an increasing level of net investment income.
ICW’s ratings also reflect the group’s solid risk-adjusted capitalization, a comprehensive reinsurance program and a fairly conservative investment portfolio. Furthermore, the ratings reflect the financial flexibility of its parent company, ICW Group Assets, Inc.
Offsetting these positive rating factors is ICW’s concentration of risk in California, subjecting the group to the regulatory, judicial and economic environment of the state and highly competitive market conditions.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. 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 A.M. Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best’s Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Best’s Credit Ratings and A.M. Best Rating Action Press Releases.
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