Revised Methodology Announced by AM Best for 'National Scale Ratings' Evaluation
In a significant move, global credit rating agency AM Best has announced an expansion of its Best's National Scale Ratings (NSR) coverage to three new countries: Algeria, Brazil, and Thailand. This update, effective immediately, aims to provide a more nuanced view of the financial strength of insurance participants within these markets.
The revised NSR criteria procedure, published on July 31, 2025, was subject to a Call for Comment (CFC) period earlier in the year. However, AM Best did not receive any written comments during this period, leaving the final criteria procedure unchanged after the consultation.
The NSR, denoted by a suffix '.XX', where XX represents a two-letter country code, serves as a complement to the global Issuer Credit Rating (ICR). This localised rating system offers a relative opinion of an insurer's financial strength within a single country.
It's important to note that these revisions do not trigger changes to any currently published Best's Credit Ratings. Factors that may influence changes in NSRs include changes in the insurer’s global ICR, country/industry-specific factors, or rating committee reassessments.
AM Best, which does business in over 100 countries and has regional offices in several locations including the United States, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mexico City, is committed to improving the granularity of its ratings. This expansion of the NSR coverage is part of this ongoing effort to provide more tailored and localised financial strength opinions.
For those seeking detailed technical specifications or mapping examples included in the criteria, the official methodology document dated July 31, 2025, provides extensive explanations and illustrative country-scale mappings.
For media inquiries, contact Christopher Sharkey, Associate Director of Public Relations at AM Best, at 1 908 882 2310 or [email protected]. For general inquiries, reach out to Ann Modica, Director of Credit Rating Criteria in the Research and Analytics department at AM Best, at 1 908 882 2127 or [email protected]. For any public relations-related queries, Al Slavin, Senior Public Relations Specialist at AM Best, can be contacted at 1 908 882 2318 or [email protected].
[1] Source: AM Best press release published by Business Wire. [2] Source: AM Best's official methodology document dated July 31, 2025.
In the wake of AM Best's expansion of Best's National Scale Ratings (NSR) coverage to Algeria, Brazil, and Thailand, there might be news about cloud-based financial systems being integrated within these insurance industries for enhanced business operations. This could potentially trigger changes in the NSRs due to the impact of technology on financial strength within these markets.
As AM Best continues its efforts to provide more localised financial strength opinions, there might be a surge in business opportunities for cloud-based fintech companies catering to the insurance sector in these newly added countries. This could further stimulate the growth of their respective local businesses and economies.
