A.M. Best Webinar to Explore Expanded Study on Insurer Impairment Rates

CONTACTS:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLDWICK - NOVEMBER 28, 2016 02:31 PM (EST)
A.M. Best will host a webinar on Wednesday, December 7, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. (EST), in which authors of a report on impairment rates of A.M. Best-rated, U.S.-domiciled property/casualty and life/health insurance companies will outline their findings.

Register for the webinar at http://www.ambest.com/webinars/impairment16 .

This webinar will present highlights from the forthcoming report, “Best’s Impairment Rate and Rating Transition Study - 1977 to 2015.” In a step designed to further enhance transparency, this year’s report presents expanded information, including information on impairment rates associated with more granular Financial Strength Rating categories as well as impairment rates associated with Issuer Credit Ratings—the rating scale most familiar to users of debt market ratings.

Subsets of impairment-related data to be discussed also include:

• Gross impairments, which encompass the broadest definition of impairments and reflect the impairment data A.M. Best has used to produce its ratings performance statistics in prior impairment studies;


• Net impairments, which represent gross impairments except that insurers that became impaired after ratings withdrawals are not counted and cohorts of insurers are not reduced for withdrawn ratings; and


• Liquidations, which represent insurers counted under the net impairment tabulation that were eventually liquidated.

These three definitions of performance statistics provide different views of the credit risk associated with insurance carriers rated by A.M. Best.

Panelists for this webinar include:

• Emmanuel Modu, managing director and global head of insurance-linked securities, A.M. Best; and


• Wai Tang, Ph.D., director, insurance-linked securities, A.M. Best.

Attendees can submit questions during registration or by emailing webinars@ambest.com. The event will be streamed in video and audio formats, and playback will be available shortly after the event.

For more information, please call (908) 439-2200, ext. 5561, or email lee.mcdonald@ambest.com.

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source.