AM Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Genesee Patrons Cooperative Insurance Company

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Rating (Long-Term ICR) to “bbb+” (Good) from “bbb” (Good) and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) of Genesee Patrons Cooperative Insurance Company (Genesee) (Batavia, NY). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR has been revised to stable from positive, while the outlook of the FSR is stable.

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

The upgrade of the Long-Term ICR reflects sustained improvement to Genesee’s balance sheet strength, reflective of the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), and organic surplus growth during eight of the prior 10 years, primarily driven by consistent operating profitability. Additionally, the company’s strong balance sheet strength reflects the overall liquidity measures that are enhanced by positive underwriting and operating cash flows, and its stable loss reserving trends as the company generally reported favorable development in most calendar and accident years. However, partially offsetting the positive factors is the company’s elevated equity position in the investment portfolio, which leaves surplus susceptible to stock market volatility.

The company’s profitable operating results are driven primarily by consistent solid underwriting earnings in each of the past five years. Furthermore, Genesee has limited financial flexibility and scale of operations. The company’s business profile is limited due to the product offerings as a single-state property insurer and geographic concentration in New York.

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 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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