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S&P Rates Progressive West Insurance AApi

28 October 1998

S&P Rates Progressive West Insurance AApi

    NEW YORK--Standard & Poor's CreditWire 10/28/98--Standard & Poor's today assigned its double-`Api' (Very Strong) insurer financial strength rating to Progressive West Insurance Co.
    Progressive West is licensed in 12 states but operates only in California. The company's major line of business is personal auto insurance, and it is a subsidiary of Progressive Corp. (counterparty credit rating single-`A'-plus/Stable), the fifth-largest writer of automobile insurance in the U. S. The company commenced operations in 1972.

    The following factor was incorporated in the rating of double-`Api':

    Progressive West cedes 88% of its premiums to Progressive
    Casualty Insurance Co., which has a financial strength rating of
    double-`Api'.

    `Pi' ratings, denoted with a pi subscript, are insurer financial strength ratings based on an analysis of an insurer's published financial information and additional information in the public domain. The ratings do not reflect in-depth meetings with an insurer's management and are therefore based on less comprehensive information than ratings without a pi subscript. Pi ratings are reviewed annually based on a new year's financial statements, but may be reviewed on an interim basis if a major event that may affect the insurer's financial security occurs. Ratings with a pi subscript are not subject to potential CreditWatch listings.
    Ratings with a pi subscript generally are not modified with `plus' or `minus' designations. However, such designations may be assigned when the insurer's financial strength rating is constrained by sovereign risk or the credit quality of a parent company or affiliated group, Standard & Poor's said.
---CreditWire.