A.M. BEST LONG-TERM
DEBT RATINGS
An
A.M. Best Long-Term Debt Rating (issue credit rating) is an opinion as to the issuer's ability to meet its financial obligations to security holders when due. These ratings are assigned to debt and preferred stock
issues.
aaa—Exceptional.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, an exceptional ability to meet the terms of the obligation.
aa—Very Strong.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, a very strong ability to meet the terms of the obligation.
a—Strong.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, a strong ability to meet the terms of the obligation.
bbb—Adequate.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, an adequate ability to meet the terms of the obligation; however, is more susceptible to changes in economic or other
conditions.
bb—Speculative.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, speculative credit characteristics, generally due to a moderate margin of principal and interest payment protection and
vulnerability to economic changes.
b—Very
Speculative.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, very speculative credit characteristics, generally due to a modest margin of principal and interest payment protection and
extreme vulnerability to economic changes.
ccc, cc,
c—Extremely Speculative.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, extremely speculative credit characteristics, generally due to a minimal margin of principal and interest payment protection
and/or limited ability to withstand adverse changes in economic or other conditions.
d—In Default.
In default on payment of principal, interest or other terms and conditions. The rating also is utilized when a bankruptcy petition, or similar action, has been filed.
Ratings from “aa” to “ccc” may be enhanced with a “+” (plus) or “-” (minus) to indicate whether credit quality is near the top or bottom of a category. A
company's Long-Term Credit Rating also may be assigned an Under Review modifier (“u”) that generally is event-driven (positive, negative or developing) and indicates that the company's A.M. Best Rating
opinion is under review and may be subject to near-term change. Ratings prefixed with an (“i”) denote indicative ratings. Ratings may also be assigned a Public Data modifier (“pd”) which
indicates that a company does not subscribe to A.M. Best's interactive rating process.
A.M. BEST
SHORT-TERM DEBT RATINGS
An
A.M. Best Short-Term Debt Rating (issue credit rating) is an opinion as to the issuer's ability to meet its obligations having maturities generally less than one year, such as commercial paper.
AMB-1+—Strongest.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, the strongest ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
AMB-1—Outstanding.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, an outstanding ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
AMB-2—Satisfactory.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, a satisfactory ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
AMB-3—Adequate.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, an adequate ability to repay short-term debt obligations; however, adverse economic conditions will likely lead to a reduced
capacity to meet its financial commitments on short-term debt obligations.
AMB-4—Speculative.
Assigned to issues where the issuer has, in A.M. Best's opinion, speculative credit characteristics and is vulnerable to economic or other external changes, which could have a marked impact
on the company's ability to meet its commitments on short-term debt obligations.
d—In Default.
In default on payment of principal, interest or other terms and conditions. The rating also is utilized when a bankruptcy petition, or similar action, has been filed.
A
company's Short-Term Credit Rating also may be assigned an Under Review modifier (“u”) that generally is event-driven (positive, negative or developing) and indicates that the company's A.M. Best Rating
opinion is under review and may be subject to near-term change. Ratings prefixed with an (“i”) denote indicative ratings.