Ratings Recap: Employers Direct, Penn Treaty Network, Allstate Floridian

A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of “A-” (Excellent) and an issuer credit rating of “a-” to Employers Direct Insurance Company (EDIC) of Agoura Hills, CA with a stable outlook. Best noted that EDIC “is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alleghany Corporation, a Delaware-domiciled publicly traded holding corporation engaged, through its various subsidiaries, in the property/casualty insurance business.”

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Penn Treaty Network America Insurance Co. (PTNA) to ‘B-‘ from ‘B’ and removed them from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Aug. 1, 2006. The outlook is stable. “The downgrade reflects the failure of PTNA’s parent company, Penn Treaty American Corp., to file its year-end 2006 10-K in a timely fashion,” explained S&P credit analyst Neal Freedman. “This continues a pattern of failure to file its GAAP financial statements within the required time frames. Standard & Poor’s believes that this indicates a continuing serious lack of control over the company’s financial reporting function.”

A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of “B+” (Good) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “bbb-” of Allstate Floridian Insurance Group, based in Northbrook, Ill., and its members. The outlook for all ratings is negative. “The ratings reflect Allstate Floridian’s adequate capitalization, historically favorable operating results in years that major catastrophes did not occur and the financial and operating support from its ultimate insurance company parent, Allstate Insurance Company,” said Best.