Schlumberger captive insurers’ ratings are affirmed

AM Best has affirmed the financial strength ratings of oilfield services company Schlumberger’s two Bermuda-based captive insurers.

The ratings agency affirmed A ratings to Castle Harbour Insurance Limited and Harrington Sound Insurance Limited. The outlook was stable.

“The ratings of Castle Harbour and Harrington reflect their balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as their strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management,” the agency said.

It added the companies maintained the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalisation, in addition to displaying excellent liquidity measures and said the operating performance assessments of strong reflect the companies’ favourable underwriting results driven by excellent loss history and benefiting from inherently low expense structures as single-parent captives.

“The ratings also take into consideration the captives’ strategic importance in providing tailored insurance coverages for the parent and its subsidiaries,” AM Best said. “While each captive carries relatively large limits within its respective designated coverages for the parent in the general liability and property lines of business, each writes a broad scope of business and has considerable geographic diversification.

“Each captive also maintains significant retentions within the offered limits, but they are readily manageable within their respective capital bases and organic surplus growth, offset by periodic sizeable dividends.”