AM Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to “a+” from “a” and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) of Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange (Federated Rural) (Lenexa, KS). The outlook of these Credit Rating (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect Federated Rural’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorizes as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

The Long-Term ICR of Federated Rural was upgraded based on the exchange’s business profile, which has exhibited defensible competitive advantages within the U.S. electric cooperative market. Federated Rural has an 87% market share of the rural electric cooperative market. Its dominant position is strengthened further by the exchange’s high customer retention ratio that indicates a strong relationship with its cooperative policyholder base. In addition, Federated Rural writes in 45 states, thus mitigating the exchange’s geographic concentration of risk to major weather events. Furthermore, the exchange mitigates part of its product offering’s risk profile through a comprehensive loss control and safety practice program among its cooperative insureds. Lastly, the exchange’s dominant market position provides Federated Rural with access to cooperatives’ loss history, thus allowing it to price risk more soundly and accurately than other carriers.

The ratings also takes into consideration the group’s strongest risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), and the group’s strong operating metrics, which outperform the composite average, as well as enterprise risk management that the company manages very carefully for its internal risks and those of its policyholders.

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 Understanding Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases.

AM Best is a global rating agency and information provider with a unique focus on the insurance industry. Visit www.ambest.com for more information.