Best’s News & Research Service - September 18, 2025 09:11 AM (EDT)
AM Best Withdraws Credit Ratings of Foundation Life (NZ) Limited
- September 18, 2025 09:11 AM (EDT)
//BestWire// - AM Best has withdrawn the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of Foundation Life (NZ) Limited (FLNZ) (New Zealand) as the company no longer has insurance policy liabilities. While the company remains a licenced insurance company, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has granted FLNZ an exemption under section 60 (2A) of the Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act 2010 from having to hold a current financial strength rating. At the time of the withdrawal, the outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) was stable.
As of 1 September 2025, as part of the ongoing wind up of its insurance operations, FLNZ cancelled all participating insurance policies with existing policyholders, offering them as a replacement one of the following: a cash payment option, a life insurance policy with Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited (Chubb Life NZ) or a combination of both. FLNZ also transferred all unsettled claims and policies to Chubb Life NZ. FLNZ is expected to commence cash payments in early October 2025.
AM Best’s procedure is for a final rating opinion to be produced in conjunction with a rating withdrawal. However, because FLNZ’s balance sheet does not contain any insurance assets or liabilities, AM Best was unable to produce a final rating opinion.
Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication.
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 (BCR), Best’s Performance Assessments (PA), Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments (PCA) 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.