AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of California Insurance Company and Affiliates

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICRs) of “a-” (Excellent) of California Insurance Company (Foster City, CA) and its affiliates, which are collectively referred to as North American Casualty Group (NAC). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is negative. (Please see below for a detailed listing of the companies and ratings.)

The ratings reflect NAC’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and marginal enterprise risk management (ERM).

The affirmation follows improvements by the group to improve oversight, including the additions of new executive staff and independent board members. Additionally, the group has begun to liquidate various alternative assets and implemented new reinsurance coverage in 2024, which is anticipated to have a material positive impact on risk-adjusted capitalization in future years. The group expects that the recent changes should improve audit timelines and reduce operational risk in the near term. Negative rating pressure could arise if these changes do not ultimately result in improvement of NAC’s audit timelines and quality.

The FSRs of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICRs of “a-” (Excellent) have been affirmed with negative outlooks for the following affiliates of California Insurance Company, which are collectively referred to as NAC:

Continental Indemnity Company
Florida Casualty Insurance Company
Illinois Insurance Company
Oklahoma Property and Casualty Insurance Company
Pennsylvania Insurance Company
Texas Insurance Company

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, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments 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. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.