AM Best Revises Outlooks to Stable for Southern Vanguard Insurance Company

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
AM Best has revised the outlooks to stable from negative and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of Southern Vanguard Insurance Company (SVIC) (Houston, TX).

The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect SVIC’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 to stable from negative reflect the improved financial leverage at SVIC’s ultimate parent, InsVest Special Partner LLC, and AM Best’s expectation that the organization’s financial leverage measures will continue to improve in the intermediate term while SVIC continues to maintain a very strong level of balance sheet strength along with profitable operating performance. The improvement in SVIC’s financial leverage was driven by a partial payoff of debt coupled with growth in capital. As a result, financial leverage and coverage ratios (as of year-end 2021) are within AM Best’s guidelines for the rating.

AM Best’s balance sheet strength assessment of very strong is supported by SVIC’s risk-adjusted capitalization being at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), along with positive growth in policyholders’ surplus over the past five years that is offset partially by limitations in its scale of operations and comparatively high gross underwriting leverage. AM Best views SVIC’s business profile as limited due to the company’s concentration in Texas with a small percentage in Arizona, along with a product concentration in the personal property lines of business. SVIC’s ERM program is deemed appropriate for its size and scope as a personal property writer.

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.