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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLDWICK - NOVEMBER 27, 2018 11:19 AM (EST)
A.M. Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to “a+” from “a” and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) of Texas Mutual Insurance Company (Texas Mutual) (Austin, TX). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR has been revised to stable from positive while the outlook for the FSR remains stable.
The ratings reflect Texas Mutual’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 (ERM).
The upgrade reflects Texas Mutual’s continued organic growth in balance sheet strength, while maintaining conservative leverage ratios. The company continues to generate surplus while supporting sizeable policyholder dividends, which are used as part of a capital management strategy to facilitate excellent policyholder retention, as well as provide a mechanism for rate reductions without market disruption. The company’s balance sheet strength also reflects a history of favorable loss reserve development trends, good credit quality of invested assets and low use of reinsurance.
Texas Mutual’s operating performance has been consistently strong over the past five years, driven by solid pre-dividend underwriting profits, and the company’s loss experience has remained favorable for over a decade. In addition, although Texas Mutual is limited to writing workers’ compensation in Texas, its business profile also reflects its importance in providing coverage in the state as evidenced by its dominant market share of more than 40%. Texas Mutual maintains an appropriate ERM program that reflects annual risk assessments, outlines risk appetite and tolerances, as well as mitigation strategies.
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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