AM Best Assigns Credit Ratings to Military Insurance Corporation

Business Wire

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
AM Best has assigned a Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good), a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb” (Good) and a Vietnam National Scale Rating (NSR) of aaa.VN (Exceptional) to Military Insurance Corporation (MIC) (Vietnam). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect MIC’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. The ratings also factor in a neutral impact from the company’s ultimate parent, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB).

MIC’s balance sheet strength assessment is underpinned by the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). MIC benefits from good financial flexibility, with a demonstrated track record of capital injections over the last 10 years. Its track record of robust internal capital generation is also viewed to be supportive of capital requirements arising from planned business growth. In addition, the company has a conservative investment strategy, with the majority of investments held in cash, term deposits and fixed-income securities. Exposure to large risks and natural catastrophes is mitigated through MIC’s reinsurance programme, whereby reinsurance counterparties are generally of good credit quality.

AM Best assesses MIC’s operating performance as adequate, with a five-year average return-on-equity ratio of 11.2% and a combined ratio of 98.5% (2020-2024). The company’s stable stream of interest income from term deposits and bonds remains an important contributor to its overall earnings. However, the company posted an underwriting loss in 2024, mainly driven by Typhoon Yagi and other one-off factors. It also reported a return to underwriting profitability in first-quarter 2025. Prospective business expansion in wholesale lines is expected to support an improvement in overall results.

AM Best assesses MIC’s business profile as neutral. MIC ranked fourth by gross premiums written in Vietnam’s non-life insurance market, with approximately 6.3% market share in 2024. The company’s premium mix is moderately diversified with key business lines being motor, health, personal accident, property and engineering insurance. MIC has a vast distribution network, including bancassurance, internal salesforce and external agents. Furthermore, MIC benefits from both common branding and preferential access to customers of MB.

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, 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 specialising 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.