A.M. best updates debt rating method. (Financial).

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, August, 2003

A.M. Best, the oldest insurance ratings agency in the country, is trying something new with its revised debt rating methodology. Released last month, a report on this updated approach touches on a number of topics. For one, it explains a rating category called an "issuer credit rating" (ICR), which has been in use internally at A.M.

Best for nearly two years since it started rating debts in 1999, according to Larry Mayewski, executive vice president and the chief rating officer at A.M. Best. The issuer credit rating, which shows the "overall creditworthiness of an insurer" from the view of its senior-most creditors, is essentially a translation of Best's insurer financial strength ratings, using the credit market scale. "For instance, an 'A-plus' financial...

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