AM Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company (Louisiana Farm Bureau) (Baton Rouge, LA).

The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Louisiana Farm Bureau’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The revised outlooks consider the declining trend in Louisiana Farm Bureau’s operating results over recent years. These trends arose due to pricing inadequacies in its core lines of business following severe catastrophic weather activity, along with elevated costs for reinsurance, and higher loss severity due to inflation. As a result, the company’s combined ratio has been above breakeven in three of the past five years, highly influenced by earned premiums that continue to sink as reinsurance prices increase. Ultimately, the deterioration has caused the company’s five-year average operating return measures to lag the personal property industry composite and has begun to shift the company away from other carriers assessed as adequate. In the absence of improvement, the ratings are likely to be downgraded.

Despite modest surplus declines, Louisiana Farm Bureau’s balance sheet continues to be supported by its strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), comprehensive reinsurance program, and conservative investment portfolio. The business profile assessment reflects the company’s geographic and product concentration as a property writer in a hurricane-prone state. Lastly, Louisiana Farm Bureau’s ERM practices remain appropriate and in line with its risk profile, with a focus on exposure management, pursuing rate adequacy, and aggressive reunderwriting of its current book.

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.

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Lauren Magro
Financial Analyst

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5181

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey
Associate Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Richard Attanasio
Senior Director

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5432

[email protected]

Al Slavin
Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best