RATING AGENCY: Downgrades Missouri Employers Mutual

COLUMBIA, 4/30/10  (Beat Byte) --  Citing "moderate deterioration in underwriting performance and an expectation for continued weaker underwriting results over the near term," insurance rating agency A. M. Best last week downgraded local workers’ compensation giant Missouri Employers Mutual (MEM). 

 

Lowering its outlook from "positive" to "stable," Best affirmed MEM's financial rating of A-.  The downturn in underwriting performance, analysts noted, "is reflective of ongoing competitive market conditions and modest adverse loss reserve development in 2002 and prior accident years."

 

An unusual public-private hybrid, MEM enjoys exemption from Federal taxes as a state fund, though the firm is not a state agency.