AM Best Affirms Credit Ratings of Blue Whale Re Ltd.
May 02 2024 - 3:33PM
Business Wire
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A
(Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a+”
(Excellent) of Blue Whale Re Ltd. (Blue Whale) (Burlington, VT).
The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
The ratings reflect Blue Whale’s balance sheet strength, which
AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating
performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise
risk management (ERM).
The ratings also reflect Blue Whale’s function as the only
captive insurer for Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) [NYSE: PFE], a global
pharmaceutical company. As Blue Whale insures or reinsures Pfizer’s
global property exposures, it plays a strategic and critical role
in Pfizer’s overall ERM in protecting the Pfizer enterprise’s
assets.
Blue Whale provides coverages with ample limits with substantial
retentions, augmenting significant reinsurance capacity supporting
its obligations. Nonetheless, the reinsurance program is
appropriate and diverse, providing ample coverage for all its lines
of business. AM Best recognizes the quality of the reinsurers and
the substantial financial resources and assistance available to the
captive as part of Pfizer. The captive’s operating performance
remains favorable when compared with its peers with low average
loss and minimal expense ratios. The volatility of key metrics is
within its risk tolerance and can be moderate with its high
retentions for low frequency, high severity coverage as experienced
in 2023.
Blue Whale is a wholly owned captive insurance subsidiary of
Pfizer, created to insure or reinsure specific risks of its parent
organization. In recent years of hard market conditions, Blue Whale
has opted to participate in small slices of its catastrophe tower
as an economic efficiency for the Pfizer enterprise. It also offers
capacity for cyber liability coverage when required by hard market
pricing.
Negative rating action could occur if AM Best's perception of
Pfizer’s ability and/or willingness to support the captive
changes.
AM Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk
transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated in the
United States and throughout the world. For current Best’s Credit
Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk
transfer insurance market, please visit
www.ambest.com/captive.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been
published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating
to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the
office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings
referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent
Rating Activity web page. For additional information
regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please
view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information
on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance
Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best
press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s
Ratings & Assessments.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and
data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry.
Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in
over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam,
Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information,
visit www.ambest.com.
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Kourtnie Beckwith Senior Financial Analyst +1
908 882 1649 kourtnie.beckwith@ambest.com
Christopher Sharkey Associate Director, Public
Relations +1 908 882 2310
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com
Daniel Teclaw Director +1 908 882 2390
dan.teclaw@ambest.com
Al Slavin Senior Public Relations Specialist +1
908 882 2318 al.slavin@ambest.com