The LSE Directory / Credit rating agencies
AM Best (formally A.M. Best Company, Inc.) is a credit rating agency that rates exclusively within the insurance industry, assessing the financial strength and creditworthiness of insurers, reinsurers and related financial instruments such as insurer issued bonds and securitization products. Its core product is the Best's Credit Rating suite, most notably the Financial Strength Rating (FSR), which measures an insurer's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations and pay claims. The company also produces Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings, Performance Assessments for delegated underwriting authority enterprises such as MGAs, and market commentary, research and insurance news through its Best's Review magazine, BestWire and Best's Market Segment Reports. Unlike diversified agencies such as S&P Global, Moody's or Fitch, AM Best rates only within insurance and reinsurance, a focus it has held since its founding, which lets it build sector specific models attuned to underwriting cycles, reserve adequacy and catastrophe exposure rather than general corporate credit metrics. Its customer base is the insurance value chain itself, meaning insurers seeking a rating to present to distributors and policyholders, reinsurers, brokers and regulators, rather than retail or equity investors. AM Best assesses more than 16,000 insurance companies and does business in over 100 countries, with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico City and Washington, D.C., alongside its US home market. Alfred M. Best incorporated the company in New York City on December 14, 1899, at age 23, from a small office at the Fahys Building on 29 Liberty Street; it is generally regarded as the world's first credit rating agency. AM Best developed its first insurer credit ratings in 1905 and published them in 1907 in what became Best's Key Rating Guide. The company later moved its headquarters from New York to Morristown, New Jersey, in 1965, and then to its current home in Oldwick, New Jersey, in 1974. It is designated a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and a Credit Rating Provider (CRP) by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and it holds Credit Rating Agency registrations in the EU, UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and other jurisdictions. Arthur Snyder III serves as chairman, president and CEO. The company marked its 125th anniversary in December 2024. AM Best remains an active publisher of forward looking sector analysis. Its February 2026 Best's Market Segment Report found that US property and casualty underwriting income more than doubled year over year to an estimated $39 billion in 2025, with the industry's calendar year combined ratio improving to 95.0 from 97.1, while it flagged tighter margins and slower premium growth for 2026. Separately, the company has maintained a negative outlook on the US health insurance segment into 2026, citing elevated Medicare Advantage medical trend and a rate to acuity mismatch in Managed Medicaid, and it has reported improving ratings trends among EMEA insurers and reinsurers through 2025.
