AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Guardian Holdings Limited and Its Subsidiaries

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “a-” (Excellent) of Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited (GLOC) and Guardian General Insurance Limited (GGIL) (Newtown, Trinidad and Tobago). Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the Long-Term ICR of “bbb-” (Good) of Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL), a publicly traded holding company and the parent of GLOC and GGIL. All companies are domiciled in Westmoorings, Trinidad and Tobago, unless otherwise specified. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect GHL’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

The steady, diversified profitability and positive cash flows from GLOC and GGIL, which are GHL’s core life and property/casualty insurance subsidiaries, as well contributions from its non-rated life and property/casualty operations in the Dutch Caribbean and Jamaica, drive GHL’s capital growth, enhancing GHL’s overall balance sheet strength and debt servicing capabilities. GHL’s parent, NCB Financial Group Limited, and its wholly owned subsidiary, NCB Global Holdings Limited, own a majority of the outstanding shares in GHL.

The ratings of GLOC acknowledge its strategic position within GHL, strong competitive position in the Trinidad and Tobago markets, consistently positive operating performance, its strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), and diversified business profile.

The ratings of GGIL acknowledge its leading regional market presence, long-term favorable operating performance and its strategic position within GHL. Partially offsetting these positive rating factors are the challenging general insurance market conditions throughout the Caribbean, the volatile energy sector and GGIL’s exposure to weather-related catastrophe events, which GGIL mitigates with its well-managed reinsurance program.

The stable outlooks reflect AM Best’s expectation that GHL’s balance sheet strength assessment will remain at the very strong level, supported by the strongest level of risk-adjusted capital, as measured by BCAR, and by the companies maintaining a strong level of operating performance over the intermediate term, as well as continued stabilizing economic conditions in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. AM Best will continue to monitor the economic conditions in the Caribbean region and take appropriate rating actions as conditions warrant.

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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