S&P’s Affirms CIC

S&P’s affirmed its “AA-” counterparty credit ratings and FSR on The Cincinnati Insurance Co., The Cincinnati Life Insurance Co., The Cincinnati Casualty Co., and The Cincinnati Indemnity Co. (collectively referred to as CIC) based on CIC’s strong competitive position, which stems from its extremely loyal and productive agency force, high business persistency, strong capitalization, and excellent financial flexibility. Also affirmed were the “A+” counterparty credit and senior debt ratings on Cincinnati Financial Corp., CIC’s parent. The outlook on these companies is stable.

Counteracting these positive factors are CIC’s aggressive investment strategy and relatively slow response to significant market changes.

CIC’s strong competitive position in the standard lines property/casualty market is largely a function of its well-established, long-term agency relationships. An understanding of the needs of independent agents—together with a very favorable contingent commission structure and competitive products and services—has resulted in an extremely loyal and productive distribution channel. This has allowed CIC to report strong premium growth and strong historical operating performance relative to its peers.