AM Best Removes From Under Review and Affirms Credit Ratings of BF&M Limited and Its Subsidiaries and Argus Group Holdings Limited and Its Subsidiaries

AM Best has removed from under review with developing implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “a” (Excellent) of BF&M Life Insurance Company Limited, BF&M General Insurance Company Limited and Island Heritage Insurance Company, Ltd. (Island Heritage) (Cayman Islands). Concurrently, AM Best has removed from under review with developing implications and affirmed the Long-Term ICR of “bbb” (Good) of the parent company, BF&M Limited (BF&M) [BSX: BFM.BH]. The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

Additionally, AM Best has removed from under review with positive implications and affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICRs of “a-” (Excellent) of Argus Insurance Company Limited and Bermuda Life Insurance Company Limited. In addition, AM Best has removed from under review with positive implications and affirmed the Long-Term ICR of “bbb-” (Good) of Argus Group Holdings Limited (Argus) in which Bermuda Life Insurance Company Limited and Argus Insurance Company Limited are subsidiaries of Argus. The outlook assigned to these ratings is positive. All companies are domiciled in Hamilton, Bermuda, unless otherwise specified.

The ratings reflect BF&M’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

BF&M maintains a solid amount of capital in support of its insurance business. The strength of BF&M’s asset portfolio, its risk profile and conservative management of its investment allocations add to its capability to preserve capital and maintain its high Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). Earnings have been favorable in four of the last five years although with some volatility, notably losses reported in 2022, due to unrealized losses on invested assets and increased reinsurance costs, and decreased earnings in 2024, due to elevated reinsurance cost and increased health claims. The integration of Argus will inherently include execution risk and AM Best will monitor the progress of the combined organization’s business and administrative functions. The amalgamated organization is expected to maintain the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by BCAR, and will continue to report favorable operating earnings.

Argus’s ratings reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate ERM.

Argus is expected to continue to operate under the Argus brand for the medium term in its operating jurisdictions and will add premium diversification, as well as scale to the amalgamated BF&M health and property/casualty businesses. AM Best anticipates some operational integration and branding updates for Argus under its new leadership structure, which has resulted from this merger.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

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