AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Berkley International Compañía de Garantías México S.A. de C.V.

MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior), the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “aa-” (Superior) and the Mexico National Scale Rating (NSR) of “aaa.MX” (Exceptional) of Berkley International Compañía de Garantías Mexico S.A. de C.V. (BICGM) (Mexico City, Mexico). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR is positive while the outlooks of the FSR and NSR are stable.

BICGM is a member of W. R. Berkley Insurance Group (Berkley Group), which on a consolidated basis has a balance sheet strength that AM Best assesses at the strongest level, as well as strong operating performance, a favorable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

The positive outlook for the Long-Term ICR reflects the Berkley Group’s favorable operating performance and balance sheet metrics. Berkley Group has grown its GAAP surplus organically over the most recent 10-year period. Additionally, Berkley Group has improved its financial leverage.

These Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect BICGM’s integration with its parent company, W. R. Berkley Corporation (W. R. Berkley), in terms of corporate goals, underwriting, ERM and capital commitments, as well as the substantial reinsurance support from its group through the Berkley Insurance Company (BIC).

BICGM was formed in November 2016 and is one of W. R. Berkley’s two Mexico subsidiaries. The company received regulatory approval to underwrite surety business in June 2017 and issued its first policy that same month. During 2023, BICGM also requested regulatory approval to underwrite guarantee insurance. With this new line of business, management decided to start 2024 under BICGM, which offers a mix of administrative products in the surety segment, and a lesser portion of credit and judicial products. The company expects to start offering guarantee insurance in 2026. BICGM is backed by a comprehensive reinsurance contract with BIC.

BICGM’s strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), is derived from its sound capital position, strengthened further by the comprehensive reinsurance contract with BIC, a growing capital base due to reinvestment of earnings and capital injection in 2023. Furthermore, AM Best recognizes W. R. Berkley’s commitment to its subsidiaries in providing additional capital fungibility to the Mexico operation.

BICGM has been able to grow its business volume during the past eight years. In 2023, BICGM presented significant premium growth, mainly driven by increased government construction activities, as well as the recent nearshoring phenomenon in the north of Mexico. During 2024, premium growth was lower than previous year, mainly caused by a slowdown of Mexico’s economy and a contraction of the construction sector. The company takes advantage of the reinsurance support received from the Berkley Group, which has allowed BICGM to achieve premium sufficiency, and further strengthened its profitability through investment income.

If positive rating actions are taken due to the ultimate parent’s operating performance showing continued and sustained outperformance of the strong peer group, BICGM’s ratings would mirror those actions. A positive rating action could also occur if the ultimate parent's balance sheet metrics continue to improve, underpinned by improvement in its financial leverage while maintaining organic surplus growth.

Negative rating actions could occur to the Berkley Group’s insurance operations if the financial position of the ultimate parent weakens, requiring either the withdrawal of capital from the various insurance companies, an increase in financial leverage, or a decline in interest coverage that is not supportive of the current ratings. BICGM’s ratings would reflect any rating actions taken as a result of the aforementioned scenarios.

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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