AM Best Revises Outlooks to Positive for Ategrity Specialty Insurance Company Holdings and Subsidiaries
In a move that underscores strengthening fundamentals and a notable improvement in operational performance, AM Best has announced positive revisions to the ratings outlooks of Ategrity Specialty Insurance Company Holdings (“Ategrity”) and its key insurance subsidiaries. The rating agency has shifted the outlooks to positive from stable while simultaneously affirming several core ratings across the group’s insurance entities. This update reflects AM Best’s growing confidence in Ategrity’s strategic direction, capital strength, and the sustained enhancements visible across its underwriting and risk management operations.
The central components of this update involve three entities:
- Ategrity Specialty Insurance Company (ASIC)
- Ategrity Specialty Insurance Limited (ASIL)
- Ategrity Specialty Insurance Company Holdings (the holding company), listed on the NYSE under the ticker ASIC
AM Best affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “a-” (Excellent) for both ASIC and ASIL. In parallel, the rating agency also affirmed the Long-Term ICR of “bbb-” (Good) for the holding company—while revising the outlook for all three to positive.
ASIC and Ategrity are domiciled in Wilmington, Delaware, a well-known jurisdiction for insurance operations and regulatory oversight, while ASIL is domiciled in Hamilton, Bermuda—one of the world’s premier hubs for insurance, reinsurance, and risk-based financial structures.
A Very Strong Balance Sheet: The Foundation of AM Best’s Upgraded Outlook
At the center of AM Best’s decision to revise the outlooks lies Ategrity’s robust balance sheet. The company’s financial foundation has demonstrated both stability and resilience supported by strong risk-adjusted capitalization. AM Best evaluates these capital levels through the Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) metric—a key measure used to determine how well capital supports underwriting, investment, and operational risk exposures.
According to the agency, Ategrity’s capitalization sits at the strongest possible BCAR level, a significant advantage for a company operating in the competitive and occasionally volatile excess and surplus (E&S) insurance market. Importantly, these capital levels have been maintained and strengthened even as the company’s premium volume and loss exposure have risen over recent years.
AM Best notes two primary contributors to Ategrity’s capital strength:
- Regular and meaningful capital contributions from the company’s majority owner. This ongoing support has enabled the insurer to sustain growth and reinforce its risk-bearing capacity without compromising financial security.
- A successful initial public offering (IPO) completed in June 2025.
The IPO provided Ategrity with additional financial flexibility and broadened its capital base, enhancing its ability to pursue its strategic objectives, manage losses, and invest in operational growth.
Looking forward, AM Best projects that the company’s balance sheet strength will remain at the very strong level. This expectation is built on Ategrity’s historical operating results, prudent capital strategy, and management’s demonstrated ability to align capital with underwriting and risk-taking activities.
Improved Operating Performance Driven by Strategic Transformation
Over the past three years, Ategrity’s management team has executed a disciplined strategy focused on reducing volatility and elevating the company’s underwriting performance—a cornerstone of sustained financial strength in the insurance sector.
Ategrity operates within the U.S. excess and surplus lines market, a specialized segment that provides coverage for unique or higher-risk accounts that may not fit standard insurance underwriting guidelines. The company primarily focuses on small to medium-sized businesses and steers away from significant property catastrophe exposure. This selective approach has helped insulate the portfolio from large, unpredictable losses while allowing the company to focus on lines where technical underwriting plays a pivotal role in generating stable profit margins.
The company’s shift in business mix has been a transformational change. The result has been:
- Improved underwriting results in 2023 and 2024
- Further improvement through the third quarter of 2025
- Lower volatility in the loss ratio
- Better pricing discipline and risk selection
- Higher quality and more diversified premium growth
Additionally, Ategrity has benefited from strong net investment income, driven in part by an alternative investment portfolio that has consistently outperformed comparable benchmarks. For insurance groups, investment returns represent a vital complement to underwriting income, especially in periods of moderate premium growth or tightening market cycles. Ategrity’s success in this area has strengthened earnings and contributed to the improved outlook.
However, AM Best clarifies that future profitability will rely heavily on management’s ability to continue executing its business plan. Sustained performance will depend on maintaining underwriting discipline, navigating competitive pressures in the E&S market, and ensuring that operational expansions are supported by adequate capital and risk management practices.
Limited but Improving Business Profile Supported by Strategic Initiatives
Ategrity’s business profile is considered limited based on AM Best’s assessment criteria. For insurers, this typically relates to factors such as geographic reach, product diversification, market share, and brand scale. However, AM Best acknowledges that Ategrity has made meaningful improvements in this area—one of the primary reasons behind the positive trend in the revised outlook.
Since 2018, ASIC—Ategrity’s U.S. operating subsidiary—has steadily built its presence in the excess and surplus lines market. The company’s progress has been the result of several deliberate initiatives, including:
1. Leadership and Management Transformation
Ategrity shifted its leadership structure and refined its strategic approach over recent years. These changes included new executives, enhanced governance practices, and a renewed emphasis on data-driven underwriting.
2. Operational Modernization and Innovative Solutions
Management has implemented innovative tools and technological enhancements to improve underwriting analysis, support risk selection, and strengthen claim management capabilities. These improvements directly contributed to better underwriting outcomes and a more sustainable business strategy.
3. Strategic Realignment of the Business Mix
Ategrity adjusted its portfolio composition to reduce exposure to highly volatile segments. By focusing on accounts with more predictable risk profiles, the company achieved more stable underwriting results across 2023, 2024, and 2025.
These developments have boosted confidence in the company’s trajectory, as reflected in the positive outlook revisions from AM Best.
Strengthening Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
In today’s insurance environment, ERM is a critical pillar of long-term success. AM Best considers Ategrity’s ERM framework appropriate for the size and complexity of the organization, with ongoing enhancements expected to continue improving underwriting stability.
The company has made substantial investments in risk identification, mitigation, and monitoring processes. ERM practices now play a central role in capital planning, reinsurance strategies, operational decision-making, and portfolio management. AM Best expects that Ategrity’s continuous improvements in this area will support further reductions in volatility and contribute to stronger, more predictable results going forward.
Ategrity’s Rating Visibility and Transparency with AM Best
The press release also reiterates that all credit ratings mentioned have been formally published on the AM Best website. Stakeholders, investors, brokers, and policyholders can access these ratings and associated disclosures through AM Best’s public rating activity page. Additionally, AM Best provides detailed guides on understanding credit ratings, their methodologies, and the proper usage of rating information.
These resources include:
- Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings
- Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments
- Best’s Performance Assessments and Preliminary Credit Assessments information
This commitment to transparency helps ensure that Ategrity’s rating information is easily accessible and accurately interpreted by market participants.
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