07 August, 2017

S&P Global Confirms Ratings of International General Insurance Group


HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE/AETOS Wire)-- Rating agency S&P Global has confirmed the financial strength and counterparty credit rating of A-/Stable for International General Insurance Co. Ltd (IGI Bermuda) and International General Insurance Company (UK) Limited (IGI UK), the international specialist commercial insurer and reinsurer, and affirmed its stable outlook.
S&P Global gave IGI a “strong” financial risk profile based on its view that its capital and earnings are “very strong”, its risk position moderate and its financial flexibility adequate.
“We are delighted to have our A-/Stable rating confirmed,” said Wasef Jabsheh, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IGI. “We have worked tirelessly to create a truly global company, with strong results, excellent management and disciplined underwriting. We have a programme of prudent, well-managed growth and this rating is confirmation that we are succeeding in this.”
IGI reported net income of $32.1 million in 2016 (2015: $35.0 million), a net combined ratio of 87.08%, and total comprehensive income (inclusive of investment gains) of $40.7 million (2015: $18.4 million). Gross written premiums stood at $231.4 million for the year.
In its report, S&P Global said the company “maintains a track record of very strong capital and earnings, with modelled risk-based capital adequacy ratios likely to remain extremely strong”. It said that despite “highly competitive” market conditions, the group reported satisfactory net income during 2016.
“Increasing sophistication is now apparent in all areas of activity, from planning to risk management. Particular progress is being made in areas such as claims controls, risk measurement and pricing, catastrophe modelling, capital modelling, and general management information systems. The result has been increasingly consistent, stable, and profitable growth despite highly competitive market conditions.”

S&P Global added: “The companies that comprise the IGI Group are regulated by six authorities--in Bermuda, the U.K., Jordan, Labuan, Casablanca Finance City, Morocco, and the DIFC in Dubai. This extensive regulatory supervision, combined with the group's steadily growing capital base, its compliance with Solvency II, its effective use of technology, its full membership of the International Underwriting Association of London, and its strong ratings have in our view all served to render the main operating companies of the IGI Group robustly solvent, successful, attractive to brokers, and acceptable to most counterparties.” 
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