[May 10, 2017] |
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A.M. Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company
A.M. Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating
(Long-Term ICR) to "a+" from "a" and affirmed the Financial Strength
Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) of Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company
(FBL). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR has been revised to stable from
positive, while the FSR outlook remains stable. Concurrently, A.M. Best
has upgraded the Long-Term ICR to "bbb+" from "bbb" of FBL Financial
Group Inc. [NYSE:FFG], the parent holding company of FBL, and
revised the outlook to stable from positive. Both companies are
domiciled in West Des Moines, IA.
The Long-Term ICR upgrade reflects FBL's strong risk-adjusted
capitalization, positive earnings trends, strong operating returns and a
capitalization profile that is viewed qualitatively as high. FBL has an
investment portfolio of good overall credit quality with limited use of
reinsurance and no utilization of captives. Overall capital trends
remain favorable due to continued organic earnings growth and good
penetration of life/annuity sales within its property/casualty
distribution system with above-average cross-sell rates that
consistently have been favorable, and higher four-year agent retention
trends. Additionally, financial and operational leverage at the holding
company is very modest with strong interest coverage ratios.
Partially offsetting Credit Rating(rating) factors include ongoing
spread compression with a high percentage of annuity and universal life
liabilities at guaranteed minimum crediting rates, although overall
spreads remain strong due to an investment portfolio yield that is
higher than the industry average. Additionally, a high percentage of
annuity liabilities do not have surrender charge protection, which could
result in disintermediation risk under a rapidly rising interest rate
scenario, which A.M. Best views as unlikely in the near term. Finally,
while FBL has good brand awareness, its business profile is concentrated
primarily in the Midwest and Western geographic regions.
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. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
Copyright © 2017 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its
subsidiaries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170510006653/en/
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