Founded in 1899, AM Best is the world’s first credit rating agency. It all began with the founder working out of a one-room office in New York City and after garnering 125 years of experience, we are proud to celebrate our anniversary in December 2024.AM Best is the world’s largest credit rating agency specialising in the insurance industry and insurance-linked securities. Best’s Credit Ratings are an essential tool for assessing an insurer’s financial strength, creditworthiness and ability to honour obligations to policyholders worldwide.

Credit Ratings: A Best’s Credit Rating (BCR) is a forward-looking, independent, and objective opinion regarding an insurer’s, issuer’s, or financial obligation’s relative creditworthiness. The opinion represents a comprehensive analysis consisting of a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of balance sheet strength, operating performance, and business profile or, where appropriate, the specific nature and details of a security.National Scale Rating (NSR): A Best’s National Scale Rating (NSR) is a relative opinion of financial strength among companies within a jurisdiction. All insurers that enter Best’s NSR process are first assigned a global Issuer Credit Rating (ICR), which is an independent opinion of an entity’s ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations and is the basis for the NSR.

Industry Research: AM Best’s exclusive research and analysis provide valuable insight into current and historical trends affecting the insurance industry.

Performance assessments: A Best’s Performance Assessment (PA) for Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises (DUAEs) is a forward-looking, independent and objective non-credit opinion indicative of a DUAE’s relative ability to perform services on behalf of its insurance partners.