AM Best Withdraws Credit Ratings of Church Life Insurance Corporation

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” of Church Life Insurance Corporation (Church Life) (New York, NY). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. Concurrently, AM Best has withdrawn the ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in AM Best’s interactive rating process.

The ratings reflect Church Life’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

Church Life has provided the clergy and lay employees of The Episcopal Church with life and annuity products for nearly 100 years, operating in a niche that has remained loyal to the company over the long-term. The company in recent years has maintained the strongest level of risk-adjusted capital, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), while producing profitable statutory operating results, less the occasional non-recurring outlier event. Church Life is licensed or exempt in all 50 states with favorable geographical diversification as no one state represents a disproportionate amount of direct written premium. Partially offsetting these positive rating factors are the shrinking niche Church Life targets along with the regulatory challenges of operating within New York state, which was a contributing factor in its relatively recent decision to suspend sales of certain individual products.

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 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 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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