//BestWire// – AM Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to “a+” (Excellent) from “a” (Excellent) and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) of Daily Underwriters of America (DUOA) (Carlisle, PA). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR has been revised to stable from positive, while the outlook of the FSR is stable.
The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect DUOA’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its very strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.
DUOA’s underwriting results and overall operating performance metrics continue to outperform the industry and its peers by wide margins, despite the inherent challenges of operating as an insurer specializing in commercial transportation. The very strong operating performance reflects the company’s adherence to stringent underwriting guidelines, driving organic surplus growth that strengthens risk-based capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). The balance sheet strength benefits from consistently favorable loss reserve development with minimal volatility despite the exposure of its lines to potential litigation and social inflation. The limited business profile reflects DUOA’s mono-line underwriting in commercial auto liability with a concentrated source of business from a long-standing managing general agency relationship that has provided excellent selection for DUOA’s business. The average agency tenure among DUOA’s top five agencies is 20 years.
The stable outlooks are based on AM Best’s expectation that DUOA’s balance sheet strength will be maintained at the strongest level and its operating performance will continue to support an assessment of very strong. Negative rating action could occur if the balance sheet strength assessment is impacted negatively by significant declines in surplus or if the company’s risk-adjusted capitalization materially decreases. Positive rating action could occur in the medium term if the company’s balance sheet strength continues to reflect the strongest level of risk-based capitalization with organic surplus growth, very low retention to surplus exposure, and favorable reserve development relative to similarly assessed peers.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM 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 AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments.
