AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Members of ReliaStar Life Insurance Group

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of “a+” (Excellent) of ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York (Woodbury, NY) and ReliaStar Life Insurance Company (Minneapolis, MN), collectively known as ReliaStar Life Insurance Group (ReliaStar). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. Both companies are life insurance subsidiaries of Voya Financial Inc. (Voya), which is headquartered in New York, NY.

The ratings reflect ReliaStar’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 ratings also reflect ReliaStar’s adequate level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), and a trend of generally favorable operating results from its health business. AM Best notes a reduction in surplus levels is primarily driven by dividends paid up to the parent organization as risk-based capital (RBC) levels are managed across entities. ReliaStar’s RBC remains above the company-stipulated minimum level and is expected to increase due to recent strategic movements into less capital-intensive products. ReliaStar’s parent, Voya, remains well-capitalized and has a well-diversified set of income sources. Voya exited the individual life and annuity segments in recent years, lowering its overall product risk and required capital.

ReliaStar’s strengths are offset partially by a less-diversified business profile due to exiting markets via the sale of in-force life and annuity blocks of business. This creates a condensed business profile and a reliance on highly competitive, lower-margin, fee-based business. The ceding of in-force blocks has created an elevated reinsurance dependence. However, its remaining product lines, stop-loss, life and disability and annuities, are diversified across geographies and market segments. ERM functions remain in line with industry peers and is fully integrated between ReliaStar and the parent, Voya.

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.

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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