Best Affirms Lloyd’s Syndicate 609 ‘A’ Ratings

A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the Syndicate Rating of “A” (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a+” of Lloyd’s Syndicate 609, which is managed by Atrium Underwriters Limited (AUL). The outlook for both ratings remains stable.

In a separate bulletin, Best affirmed the “A” ratings of Lloyd’s Syndicate 570, also managed by Atrium (See following article).

“The syndicate benefits from the financial strength of the Lloyd’s market, which underpins the security of all Lloyd’s syndicates,” said the announcement. “The rating is based on A.M. Best’s specific syndicate criteria. (See A.M. Best’s Rating Methodology for Lloyd’s Syndicates at: http://www.europe.ambest.com/lloydsmethodology.pdf.)”

Best described Syndicate 609 as having “an excellent business profile in certain specialist areas of marine insurance including marine hull, submarine cables and ports. A well diversified portfolio is written with business in other sectors, including non-marine property, marine liability, energy and aviation war.”

Best also said it believes the syndicate’s profile is “enhanced by its excellent track record of producing profits in each closed year since 1984, a trend that is likely to continue. The syndicate has sufficient flexibility with its underwriting capacity to ensure that it can take advantage of a continuation of the favourable market conditions in certain of its specialist areas (marine liability and non-marine property, in particular) in the latter part of 2004.”

As a result Best said it “anticipates excellent performance in 2002 and 2003, in line with the syndicate’s latest forecasts (after personal expenses) of 13 percent and 21 percent, respectively (Lloyd’s August quarterly monitoring returns). In 2004, A.M. Best anticipates a continuation of the syndicate’s unbroken track record of profits despite the impact of the series of catastrophe losses in the second half of 2004 to date. These losses will likely cause a deterioration in the syndicate’s half-year combined ratio of 77 percent, although the ratio is forecast to remain excellent at approximately 80 percent.”

Topics Excess Surplus AM Best Lloyd's