Weiss Ratings vs. A.M. Best a Comparison

	Weiss Ratings vs. A.M. Best

Ratings Accuracy

The true yardstick for measuring a rating agency is "How often were they right?" Or more specifically for an insurance company solvency or claims paying ability rating, "How did they rate those companies that failed?" As you can see from the table below (updated through April 23rd, 2004), the track record for Weiss Ratings is the best you will find anywhere.

Weiss rates more companies than any other rating agency, and we've never had an A rated (excellent) company fail. Unlike the other rating agencies, Weiss does not allow the companies we rate to suppress their ratings. Instead, we publish all ratings, good or bad. That is how Weiss earned its reputation as the most accurate, reliable, and conservative rating agency around.

How Did Weiss and Best Rate the Insurance Companies that Failed?
Analysis of Insurance Company Failures from 1990 through 2005	At Date of Failure		12 Months Prior to Failure
	Weiss	Best	Weiss	Best
Suppressed Publication of the Rating	0	17	0	14
Did Not Rate a Failed Insurer Rated by the Other	10	231	13	204
Assigned an Excellent^* Rating	0	1	1	2
Assigned a Good^* Rating	0	2	3	44
* "Excellent" and "Good" correspond to Weiss' A and B ratings, respectively. In keeping with the GAO study, "Excellent" corresponds to Best's A++ and A+ (superior) ratings, and "Good" relates to Best's A and A- (excellent) ratings.

Ratings Predictability

Warnings don't do you any good if they come after it's too late to act. And as this table of the largest insurance company failures shows (taken from page 26 of the GAO's Insurance Ratings study), Weiss issues its warnings well before a company fails or is taken over by regulators.

When Were "Vulnerable" Ratings Assigned to Large Insurers?
Number of Days Before or After Failure
	Weiss	Best
Mutual Benefit Life	40 days before	3 days after
Superior National Ins. Co	2276 days before	38 days after
Executive Life of CA	379 days before	6 days before
Monarch	162 days before	never
First Capital	617 days before	5 days after
Executive Life of NY	372 days before	1 day after
Fidelity Bankers	308 days before	2 days after
Kentucky Central	621 days before	3 days after
Fidelity Mutual	134 days before	5 days after
Investor's Equity	1,152 days before	4 days after
Electric Mutual Liability	671 days before	50 days after
Home Insurance Co	113 days before	375 days after
Source: GAO Insurance Ratings study; updated for more recent failures

Because most insurance policies represent long-term commitments, you need to know about a company's deteriorating financial condition as soon as possible. At Weiss, we feel it's important to get the word out while you still have time to protect your investments. That way you can take steps to avoid the financial losses and headaches associated with doing business with a failed insurer.

Page 23 of the GAO's Insurance Ratings study says "Weiss was first (to identify financially-impaired insurers) in 23 cases, Best in 7 cases -- about a three to one ratio." And looking at figures updated through April 23rd, 2004, Weiss' ratings predictability is still superior.

Weiss and Best: Who Assigned "Vulnerable" First?
Analysis of Financially Impaired Insurance Companies	In the GAO Study	Updated through 2005
Weiss was First to Downgrade to a "Vulnerable" Rating	23	126
A.M. Best was First to Downgrade to a "Vulnerable" Rating	7	38
Source: GAO Insurance Ratings study; updated for more recent failures "Vulnerable" as defined by the GAO means: Weiss: rated D (weak); E (very weak); or, F (failed) Best: rated C++, C+ (Marginal); C, C- (Weak); D (Poor); E (State Supervision); F (In liquidation); Beginning in 1994, Best also considers B, B- (Fair) as vulnerable.