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QBE Insurance Group and its main insurance subsidiaries have retained their strong credit ratings, despite the insurance powerhouse's revised market update, A.M. Best has reported.
On Jan. 23, QBE has revised its full-year 2017 expectations to a post-tax loss of roughly US$1.2bn, partly due to higher-than-expected combined ratio of approximately 104% and the write-off of goodwill and deferred tax assets.
According to A.M. Best, despite QBE's lower-than-anticipated year-end 2017 risk-adjusted capitalisation due to the expected post-tax loss, “the group’s year-end 2017 coverage of the regulatory prescribed capital amount is expected to be around 1.6x, which is within its target range.”
A.M. Best said “the QBE board will consider the quantum of the group’s final dividend and share buy-back expectations in conjunction with the finalisation of the year-end 2017” on Feb. 26 – during which, the ratings agency will also assess the impact of any announced capital-management actions on prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation.
On July 13, A.M. Best upgraded the Long-Term ICR to “a+” and affirmed the A (Excellent) FSR of QBE Insurance Group's key operating subsidiaries – QBE Insurance Europe, QBE Re, and the pooled members of QBE North America Insurance Group. At the same time, the ratings agency also affirmed the A- (Excellent) FSR and “a-” Long-Term ICR of QBE's Puerto Rico subsidiary, QBE Seguros, and upgraded the Long-Term ICR of QBE to “bbb+”. These ratings remain unchanged with a stable outlook.
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QBE gets S&P outlook downgraded to stable
