AM Best Removes From Under Review With Negative Implications and Affirms Credit Ratings of One Alliance North America Insurance Company
- March 13, 2026 11:28 AM (EDT)
//BestWire// - AM Best has removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bb” (Fair) of One Alliance North America Insurance Company (OANAIC) (Forth Worth, TX) (formerly Universal North America Insurance Company). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is negative.
The ratings reflect OANAIC’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as adequate, as well as its marginal operating performance, limited business profile and marginal enterprise risk management.
The ratings were removed from under review with negative implications following the executed stock purchase agreement between Universal Group, Inc. and 5B Alliance, LLC. The agreement included the sale of One Alliance Insurance Holdings of North America, Inc. (formerly known as Universal Insurance Holdings of North America, Inc), an intermediate holding company that owns OANAIC and One Alliance Insurance Managers, Inc. (formerly known as Universal Insurance Managers, Inc.), a managing general agent.
The rating affirmations are supported by OANAIC’s strong risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Credit Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), at the 99.6 VaR, generally stable loss reserving trends and a conservative investment portfolio. However, the company’s balance sheet has experienced considerable volatility in prior periods as the result of severe weather-related losses, which reduced policyholder surplus through cumulative retained losses.
Under the new ownership, OANAIC’s balance sheet has shown some improvement with surplus appreciation resulting from profitable operating results in 2025. This was the result of the implementation of profitability initiatives that include derisking and diversifying the portfolio, significant rate increases and benefits from milder weather in areas of concentration.
The negative outlooks reflect AM Best’s concerns regarding the elevated leverage measures at the holding company. Management has implemented a near-term plan to lower leverage somewhat at the holding company. In the event that this plan is not executed successfully, there will be downward pressure on the ratings.
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.