What Does Fitch Rated Insurance Company Mean?

Fitch Ratings is one of the top 3 credit rating agencies in the world, that rate the viability of investments relative to the likelihood of default.

When you’re planning to invest in the right insurance, you need to check whether the company is financially stable enough to pay customer’s claims, especially if a big disaster hits. One of the easiest ways to check an insurance company rating in Sri Lanka is to look for their Fitch Rating.

A Fitch Insurer Financial Strength rating (IFS rating) provides an assessment of the company’s financial strength, its capacity to meet senior obligations to policyholders on a timely basis.

Fitch Ratings assesses the insurance company’s overall financial situation, management stability, recent performance and financial leverage. Other factors like competition, diversification, market presence, etc are sometimes considered too when rating the strength of the company.

Companies that have been rated with AAA, AA or A are generally the ones to look into. Here’s the Fitch Rating system -

Investment grade -

• AAA: companies of exceptionally high quality (established, with consistent cash flows)
• AA: still high quality; still has a low default risk.
• A: low default risk; slightly more vulnerable to business or economic factors
• BBB: a low expectation of default; business or economic factors could adversely affect the company

Non-investment grade -

• BB: elevated vulnerability to default risk, more susceptible to adverse shifts in business or economic conditions; still financiall flexible
• B: degrading financial situation; highly speculative
• CCC: a real possibility of default
• CC: default is a strong probability
• C: default or default-like process has begun
• RD: issuer has defaulted on a payment
• D: defaulted

Insurance Companies that have been rated an ‘A’ or higher are a good rating. This helps you understand which companies will be around when times are bad. While the Fitch Rating is an important score in determining this, you might also want to consider other factors when choosing an insurance company. Things like customer service, product offerings, customer satisfaction and the price of insurance policies are some of the factors to keep in mind when choosing the right provider.

Continental Insurance Lanka Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of Melstacorp PLC/Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLC, has achieved ‘National Insurer Financial Strength (IFS)’ upgraded to A+(lka) by Fitch Ratings. The company has maintained its underwriting discipline and its capital ratios comfortably above the regulatory requirements. Continental Insurance has maintained this Fitch Rating since 2014, and is one of the highest rated insurance companies in Sri Lanka.

Continental Insurance provides a range of insurance policies that you can count on, from personal to business needs. Whether you’re looking for a motor insurance cover for your commercial vehicle fleet or travel insurance to cover you against unexpected perils of travelling to another country, Continental Insurance has a range of policies for you.

Get in touch with our team or visit your nearest branch to get insured with us. Call us on +94 11 5 200200