Updated Standards Process Announced: 'National Scale Ratings' by AM Best
AM Best Expands National Scale Ratings to Include Algeria, Brazil, and Thailand
In a significant development, global credit rating agency AM Best has announced the expansion of its Best's National Scale Ratings (NSR) to cover insurance companies in Algeria, Brazil, and Thailand. This move is aimed at providing a more detailed analysis of the financial strength of these companies within their respective national markets.
The revised NSR criteria procedure, effective immediately, offers a relative opinion of an insurance company’s financial strength compared specifically within its own country. This scale complements global issuer credit ratings by mitigating country-specific limiting factors that affect global analysis. The NSR employs a country code suffix (e.g., '.XX') to distinguish it clearly from global ratings.
The evaluation process for the NSR involves analyzing nine key financial factors over three-year averages, comparing each insurer's results to the country’s industry averages. The factors include reported capital and surplus, investment ratios, leverage, premiums written, returns on equity and assets, retention ratio, combined ratio, and reported assets. Public data, along with financial reports of insurers domiciled in a country, are used to map out the financial strength range within that market, with adjustments made considering factors such as creditworthiness of governments when mapping the national scale.
It's worth noting that the update introduces no changes to any existing published Best’s Credit Ratings; it only expands the NSR coverage. AM Best issued a Call for Comment (CFC) on the revisions from March 24, 2025, to April 23, 2025, but did not receive any written feedback, so no changes were made post-CFC.
Thaire Life Assurance Public Co., Ltd. was highlighted as an example of an insurer rated under this framework in Thailand. Thaire Life's financial strength and issuer credit ratings reflect its strong capitalization, favorable operating history, and market position in Thailand, underscoring how the NSR applies locally. No similarly detailed examples were provided for Algeria or Brazil, but the inclusion of these countries in the NSR framework means insurers domiciled there will now be evaluated on the same relative financial strength basis within their national markets.
For more information about the revised Best's National Scale Ratings criteria procedure, you can visit http://www.ambest.com/ratings/methodology.asp for the procedure itself, and https://www3.ambest.com/ratings/cr/crisk.aspx for the related mapping scales document. For general inquiries or to send an email, you can contact Business Wire at their provided contact information. For press inquiries, you can reach out to Christopher Sharkey at 1 908 882 2310 or [email protected], Al Slavin at 1 908 882 2318 or [email protected], or Ann Modica at 1 908 882 2127 or [email protected], who are all contacts for inquiries related to the Best's National Scale Ratings criteria procedure.
[1] AM Best press release, July 31, 2025. [2] AM Best National Scale Ratings Criteria Procedure, July 31, 2025. [3] AM Best Methodology Manual, July 31, 2025. [4] AM Best press release, August 1, 2025. [5] AM Best National Scale Ratings Mapping Scales, July 31, 2025.
In this expansion of AM Best's Best's National Scale Ratings (NSR), insurance companies in Algeria, Brazil, and Thailand will now be analyzed, offering a more detailed analysis of their financial strength within their respective national markets. This development in cloud-based finance business will provide a relative opinion of an insurer’s financial strength compared specifically within its own country, complementing global analysis.
