AM Best Upgrades Credit Ratings of Knight Insurance Company Ltd. and Its Affiliates

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A-(Excellent) from B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a-” (Excellent) from “bbb+” (Good) of Knight Insurance Company Ltd. (Knight Insurance) (Cayman Islands), KnightBrook Insurance Company (Wilmington, DE) and Knight Specialty Insurance Company (Wilmington, DE). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. These companies collectively are referred to as Knight.

These ratings reflect Knight’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The rating upgrades reflect Knight’s operating and process enhancements that have been instituted by its management team over the past five years, resulting in steadily improving ongoing and prospective operating performance while significantly reducing adverse prior-year loss reserve development. During that time, the company also has strengthened the monitoring and control of its general agent partners and third-party adjusters in claims settling and enhanced its underwriting guidelines, which have contributed to the turnaround. Furthermore, Knight recently executed a loss portfolio transfer (LPT) and an adverse development cover (ADC) to insulate the balance sheet cleanly from any further prior adverse development. The LPT cedes the loss and unearned premiums reserves of 20-plus terminated programs to Hankey Re, a newly created segregated portfolio cell company backed by the ultimate owner of the group, Don Hankey, while the ADC covers Knight’s Venture program, which is currently its biggest active program.

The ratings also reflect Knight’s improving risk-adjusted capitalization and the strategic role that it has as a member of the Hankey Group, a group of companies that operates primarily in the automotive industry. Knight Insurance provides various lines of coverage for affiliated and unaffiliated programs. Its largest lines of business are commercial auto and general liability.

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.

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