Rob Devey, Clerical Medical Director explains: ‘This is good news for Clerical Medical. The re-rating reflects Clerical Medical’s continued growth, strong business performance and solid position within the UK life, pensions and investments market. We’re delighted with the result. Fitch has reacted positively to our business plans and performance, giving us confidence in our direction. This is further support for our ambition to be the UK’s leading investment business.’

So what does it all actually mean?
The rating provides an assessment of the financial strength of an insurance organisation and its ability to meet its responsibilities to policyholders. This new rating is an acknowledgement of our core services, based on a thorough analysis of factors that determine an insurance organisation’s financial strength, including its operating performance, financial flexibility, balance sheet strength, management quality, competitive positioning and long-term business viability. So, you can rest assured that we are continuing to provide you with a service that is recognised internationally as one with low risks and high performance.

Who are Fitch and why is their rating significant?
Fitch Ratings (www.fitchratings.com) is an independent organisation providing financial strength ratings on more than 2,000 insurance companies across the world. Founded in 1913, Fitch started out as a publisher of financial statistics, whose consumers included the New York stock exchange. Fitch soon became the recognised leader in providing critical financial statistics to the investment community.

In 1924, Fitch introduced the ‘AAA’ to ‘D’ ratings (The Fitch Ratings scale), coupled with in-depth analysis by a staff of investment experts and quickly became recognised as the benchmark by which the financial community based fixed-income investment decisions.

What does an AA+ rating represent?
Organisations are rated from the highest score of ‘AAA’ to the lowest, ‘D’. AA+ (very strong) is described by Fitch as: ‘Insurers are viewed as possessing very strong capacity to meet policyholder and contract obligations. Risk factors are modest, and the impact of any adverse business and economic factors is expected to be very small. The ‘+’ indicates the relative position of the credit within the rating category.’