AM Best has affirmed Lloyd's A-minus (Excellent) rating. It said it believed that capital supporting underwriting in 2002 would increase and the impact of the WTC losses on the Central Fund was containable.
Insurance rating agency AM Best has affirmed Lloyd's A-minus (Excellent) rating. It said it believed that capital supporting underwriting in 2002 would increase and the impact of the WTC losses on the Central Fund was containable.
The agency added that there was some stability in Lloyd's estimate of the market's gross loss, $2bn (£1.37bn) had successfully been transferred to Lloyd's trust funds in the United States and that the market's WTC reinsurance recoveries would be widely spread among high quality reinsurers.
AM Best has also removed the rating from "under review". This was applied after the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001.
It added that offsetting factors included the absolute size of Lloyd's WTC loss and some uncertainty over future development of the loss, the market's dependence on a high level of reinsurance recoveries and its poor open year performance.
AM Best said it believed Lloyd's was likely to trade successfully through the recent period of losses.
It said Lloyd's would be "in a strong position to take advantage of the favourable pricing environment that is anticipated for 2002 and the market will produce a healthy return on capital employed for the year, assuming normal loss experience."
