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Standard & Poor's Rates Western Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance 'Api'

23 October 1998

Standard & Poor's Rates Western Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance 'Api'

    NEW YORK, Oct. 23 -- Standard d& Poor's today assigned its
single-'Api' insurer financial strength rating to Western Farm Bureau Mutual
Insurance Co.
    Western Farm Bureau is licensed in Iowa and New Mexico. The company's
major line of business is private passenger auto liability, and it is a member
of Farm Bureau Group of Iowa, a midsized insurance group, (surplus of between
$50 and $100 million).  The company commenced operations in 1948; and the
principal state in which it operates is New Mexico.
    Below is a summary of the analysis that resulted in a rating of
single-'Api'.  As a consequence of an interaffiliate pooling arrangement with
Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company under which it receives 1.0% of the pool,
Western Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. is assigned a rating of single-'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