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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLDWICK - APRIL 21, 2017 09:01 AM (EDT)
A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a+” of The Cincinnati Life Insurance Company (Cincinnati Life) (Fairfield, OH), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Cincinnati Insurance Company (CIC), and an indirect subsidiary of Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF) [NASDAQ: CINF], CIC’s ultimate parent. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
The ratings reflect Cincinnati Life’s adequate risk-adjusted capitalization, good quality investment portfolio, positive premium growth trends in its core ordinary life insurance line of business and its strategic role within CINF.
While Cincinnati Life’s risk-adjusted capital is adequate, it has been declining on a year-over-year basis. The recent declines in statutory surplus reflect operating losses primarily tied to retaining Regulation XXX reserves, which have added to the statutory expense strain associated with new business production. In addition to the challenges in managing the statutory new business expense strain related to ordinary life sales, the company continues to address spread compression on legacy interest-sensitive reserves in the low interest rate environment. On a GAAP basis, Cincinnati Life has reported increased net income in recent years. However, the company contributes modestly to the revenue and earnings of the enterprise. A.M. Best believes that with the implementation of principles-based reserving in 2017, statutory operating results will improve due to the elimination of Regulation XXX reserving on new term life business.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. 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 A.M. Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best’s Credit Ratings.
A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source.