AM Best Upgrades Credit Ratings of Standard Life and Casualty Insurance Company; Affirms Most Credit Ratings of Members of Manhattan Insurance Group

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) to B++ (Good) from B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to “bbb” (Good) from “bbb-” (Good) of Standard Life and Casualty Insurance Company (Standard Life and Casualty) (Salt Lake City, UT). In addition, AM Best has revised the outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) to stable from positive.

Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the FSR of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term ICRs of “bbb” (Good) of Manhattan Life Insurance and Annuity Company (Houston, TX), Manhattan Life Insurance Company (Great Neck, NY), Family Life Insurance Company (Houston, TX) and Western United Life Assurance Company (Spokane, WA). These companies collectively are known as Manhattan Insurance Group (MIG). The outlook of these ratings is stable.

The ratings of the members of MIG are being extended to Standard Life and Casualty now that it is integrated fully into the operations of MIG.

The ratings of MIG reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as adequate, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate ERM. MIG’s rating affirmations are driven primarily by a trend of improving risk-adjusted capitalization over the previous several years, coupled with continuing favorable operating performance despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its increasingly diverse portfolio of annuity, life insurance, and accident and health products. Additionally, the group has been expanding its worksite operations.

The stable outlooks reflect AM Best’s expectation that MIG will maintain an adequate balance sheet assessment overall, while maintaining strong operating performance.

Partially offsetting these positive rating factors is the unknown long-term effects on public health from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the uncertain macroeconomic environment. Furthermore, MIG has increased investment allocations to NAIC-2 class bond issuances over the past several years, which has the potential to decrease the quality of its balance sheet significantly if unfavorable market conditions arise. AM Best will continue to monitor these allocations.

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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