VENICE, FL - Rating firm A. M. Best upgraded First Guard Insurance Company yesterday from B++ (very good) to A- (excellent). Best sited First Guard's consistently favorable operating results, solid capitalization and conservative investment strategies as the basis for the rating upgrade.
First Guard Insurance Company began operations in 1997. Yesterday 1st Guard Corporation Chairman, Ed Campbell, III remarked. "We started First Guard Insurance Company to reinsure our truck physical damage program. In that capacity the company has performed extremely well. Our customers have enjoyed stable rates, and we have sidestepped the reinsurance problems that continue to plague so many other trucking programs. Now we want to take the process further and position First Guard Insurance Company to write business directly. The rating upgrade we received yesterday will certainly facilitate this course of action."
The upgrade for First Guard Insurance Company comes at a time when many insurance companies have actually seen their ratings decline. Poor underwriting results and a weak investment environment have hit the insurance industry particularly hard. In contrast, First Guard Insurance Company has always generated an underwriting profit. Annually it has outperformed the industry's loss ratio for automobile physical damage coverage by roughly 10 points. The company has avoided stock market losses by keeping its capital invested exclusively in U.S. Treasuries.
