ACR withdraws from rating services

Asia Capital Re (ACR) has withdrawn from all rating services of AM Best and Standard & Poor's voluntarily for itself, its parent company ACR Capital Holdings and its subsidiary Asia Capital Reinsurance Malaysia, according to an official statement.

This follows ACR’s announcement last week on its sale to Catalina and the associated voluntary cessation of writing new business with immediate effect.

AM Best’s ratings are withdrawn effective from 9 December 2019 and Standard & Poor’s has also commenced their ratings withdrawal process for the reinsurer. ACR previously held “A-” ratings from both AM Best and Standard & Poor’s. Meanwhile, Asia Capital Reinsurance Malaysia held an “A-” rating from AM Best and ACR Capital Holdings was previously also rated by AM Best.

As the reinsurer transitions into becoming a platform for Catalina’s run-off services in Asia, it no longer views its credit ratings as necessary to conduct the run off of its own in-force portfolio and further after the completion of the sale, ACR said in a statement.

The decision to withdraw from the rating services is said to be an administrative step that is unrelated to the reinsurer’s financial strength and balance sheet capabilities.

As of 30 September 2019, ACR carries a total of $1.34bn of financial assets which exceeds the value of all gross contract liabilities including the unearned premium reserve. Of the total financial assets, 90% are highly liquid sovereign and corporate fixed income securities with average rating of A-.

Source: Asia Insurance Review