A.M. Best Ups SCOR To "A" Rating

NU Online News Service, Sept. 14, 2:18 p.m. EDT

A.M. Best Europe-Ratings Services Ltd. in London said it upgraded the financial strength rating of Paris-based SCOR S.E. and its subsidiaries to "A" from "A-minus."

The subsidiary of Oldwick, N.J.-based A.M. Best said last Friday that in connection with the SCOR rating action, it also bumped up the ratings of some North American non-life and life operating subsidiaries to "A," such as SCOR Reinsurance Company in New York.

An exception was General Security National Insurance Company, which Best affirmed at "A-minus."

The outlook on all ratings has been revised to stable from positive.

Referring to the upgrades, Best Europe said the actions reflect the continuing resilience of SCOR's risk-adjusted capitalization, its consistent operating performance and the quality of its enterprise risk management, noting that "SCOR's risk-adjusted capitalization has improved beyond A.M. Best's expectations."

The capital improvement, Best Europe said, is a result of SCOR's highly diversified underwriting exposure--with an even balance between non-life and life-health business--as well as the company's relatively low investment exposure.

"SCOR has been able to continue to distribute dividends to its shareholders and, at the same time, increase its retained earnings despite facing difficult conditions in the financial markets," the rating division said.

In 2010, A.M. Best anticipates that SCOR's underwriting performance will remain positive despite the impact of major natural catastrophe events (principally the Chile earthquake and Windstorm Xynthia) on the group's non-life result, with a projected combined ratio marginally below 100.

The A.M. Best announcement noted that SCOR group was able to "maintain its momentum in non-life lines" during 2010 renewals "by making inroads into American and Asian markets."

Overall, A.M. Best expects SCOR's non-life gross written premiums to increase by approximately 5 percent for full-year 2010