DBRS Confirms Co-operators General Insurance Company at Pfd-3 (high), Trend Stable

DBRS Limited (DBRS) has today confirmed its ratings on the preferred shares of Co-operators General Insurance Company (CGIC or the Company) at Pfd-3 (high), with a Stable trend. The Company is the cornerstone of The Co-operators Group (the Group), a co-operative financial services organization with complementary interests in life insurance and investment management.

As part of a larger financial services group, the Company enjoys a strong franchise in the co-operative space, which ranks it among the top five providers of general insurance products in Canada. The Company is beginning to benefit from recent management initiatives toward reducing costs, supporting better underwriting results and cultivating deeper customer relationships. The Company has been improving its customer segmentation and, consequently, its ability to differentiate pricing, creating a more favourable platform for improved future profitability. Despite a combination of weather-related catastrophic loss events and reduced investment portfolio contributions which have combined to create break-even returns for the first nine months of 2013, DBRS considers CGIC’s overall credit quality to have been improving over the past few years.

Notes:
All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

The related regulatory disclosures pursuant to the National Instrument 25-101 Designated Rating Organizations are hereby incorporated by reference and can be found by clicking on the link to the right under Related Research or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

The applicable methodology is Rating Companies in the Canadian Property and Casualty Insurance Industry (November 25, 2013).

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

DBRS will publish a full report shortly that will provide additional analytical detail on this rating action. If you are interested in receiving this report, contact us at info@dbrs.com.