Chartis SA welcomes Fitch’s AAA rating, stable outlook

Chartis South Africa has welcomed rating agency Fitch’s affirmation of its ‘AAA(zaf)’ rating and the upgrading of its negative outlook to stable.

Chartis is a world leading property-casualty and general insurance organisation serving more than 45 million clients in over 160 countries and jurisdictions.

Reinhard Franke, General Manager of Chartis South Africa, said that the AAA rating reflects the company’s strong business, conservative investment portfolios, high levels of liquidity and sound capitalisation.

The solvency margin for Chartis SA is 47% compared to a statutory requirement of 15%, while the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) for Chartis Life South Africa is 6.3 times compared with a minimum statutory requirement of 2 times.

“We welcome Fitch’s AAA rating and are pleased our outlook has improved to stable. This rating gives us the joint highest of any insurance company is South Africa.”

Franke noted that Chartis continues to expand the business in South Africa and Africa.

The rating actions follow Fitch’s affirmation of the holding company Chartis Overseas, Limited’s (Chartis Overseas; ‘A+’/Stable) and the ultimate parent American International Group Inc’s (AIG, ‘BBB’/Stable) ratings on 9 July 2010.

The ratings on Chartis Life SA and Chartis SA reflect strong formal support agreements provided by Chartis Overseas, a wholly-owned property/casualty subsidiary of AIG.

Recently Chartis was awarded Best Global Insurer Overall in Euromoney’s annual insurance survey for the third year in a row.

Respondents also picked Chartis as the winner in four out of the five insurance categories in the same survey. Chartis was awarded best overall global product provider of General Property and Casualty Insurance, Directors and Officers Liability, Marine and Fire, and Medical Insurance.