Gleaner Life Insurance Society's credit ratings reaffirmed by two agencies – The Daily Telegram

ADRIAN — Gleaner Life Insurance Society’s credit ratings recently were reaffirmed by two ratings agencies.

It was the 14th consecutive year A.M. Best has given Gleaner Life an “A- (Excellent)” “Stable” rating, and the fifth year in a row Kroll Bond Rating Agency has provided “A-“ “Stable” ratings.

An “A- (Excellent)” rating reflects A.M. Best’s opinion that a company has an excellent ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations.

The rating, issued in January, assesses key categories. The only rating change from 2021’s assessments was an upgrade in Gleaner Life’s balance sheet strength, which moved from “Strong” to “Very Strong.” According to the report, that is the strongest level as measured by Best’s capital adequacy Ratio.

“We are pleased to receive affirmation from A.M. Best of our ongoing achievements as a soon-to-be 128-year-old fraternal benefit Society,” Gleaner Life President and CEO Kevin Marti said in the release. “We pride ourselves in helping over 46,000 members protect their financial security with our highly qualified independent agent partners, while also helping make the communities where we all live and work better places to be.”

In addition to assigning Gleaner Life a “stable” outlook, A.M. Best also rated Gleaner Life’s operating performance as “adequate,” its business profile as “neutral,” and its enterprise risk management as “appropriate.” These were the same ratings A.M. Best assigned in 2021.

January’s rating marked the fifth consecutive year Gleaner Life has received the “A-” rating from KBRA. 

“The Stable Outlook,” KBRA said, “reflects KBRA’s expectation that Gleaner will achieve consistent growth of its life insurance portfolio, will preserve its current capitalization and surplus at levels supportive of its current rating, maintain sound investment portfolio credit quality and asset/liability management, and avoid significant spread compression through continued active management of credited rates.”

Some of the developments that KBRA listed in making its rating included Gleaner Life’s eight consecutive years of positive surplus growth, reinsurance treaties completed in 2019 and 2020 on 3.0% and 3.5% annuities that reduced risks on Gleaner’s balance sheet, expansion into three new states (Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina), and decreased insurance and fraternal operating expenses of more than $2 million compared to the same period last year.

“Gleaner continues to grow its life business aggressively as its independent sales distribution strategy continues to be effective,” KBRA said.

“We are pleased to receive affirmation from KBRA of our ongoing achievements as a soon-to-be 128-year-old fraternal benefit Society,” Marti said. “We pride ourselves in helping over 46,000 members their financial security with our highly qualified independent agent partners, while also helping make the communities where we all live and work better places to be.”