The Benefits to Becoming an AM Best company member
Insurance companies are slightly different from other companies in as much as they have to keep a consistent record of financial stability to fulfill clients’ obligations in the long run. For insurance companies, financial ratings are a kind of advertisement of their sound financial condition. There are plenty of risk factors that an insurance company may confront and as a result, its performance and even survival may be affected in the long run. The rating system includes these risk factors in its assessment. A.M. Best is one of the leading insurance company rating firms of worldwide repute, providing ratings to insurance companies. In addition to obtaining a rating, an A.M. Best company enjoys many more facilities and privileges. But before you avail these, you have to know how you can become an A.M. Best company.
Becoming an A.M. Best company
The first step to becoming a customer of A.M. Best is to fill out a subscription form. The form filling process is divided into two parts; the first part creates a Best account for you where you have to use your e-mail address and password. The second part requires you to provide your name and address information. You need not worry about the privacy policy of A.M. Best — they have strict rules regarding the protection of customer information. Once you complete this formality, you become a Best customer and are entitled to the following privileges:
Access to Information
As an A.M. Best company, you enjoy a selection of privileges that a non member cannot. The greatest advantage of becoming a Best customer is probably getting access to unlimited authentic inside stories of the insurance industry. By logging in to the A.M. Best Member Center, you will be able to catch up with the latest industry news, rating updates of your competitors, useful fiscal information and much more.
In addition to that, Best customers are entitled to a free gift in the form of A.M. Best’s newest publication, The Best’s Review 2006-2007 Guide to Understanding Financial Protection Products. The review is a valuable resource in wealth creation, investment plans for retirement, asset protection and the like. The guide covers such issues as various life and personal insurance policies, annuity, and saving modes, how they work, and their price. This review is created as a third party evaluation of the insurance industry and its products and the information are founded on A.M. Best’s proprietary databases.
Online Facilities
An A.M. Best company is provided with an on-line account to enable trouble-free purchase of subscriptions. Through this you can directly download information about the hottest deals, company profiles and other special reports from the company’s site. As a customer you will also be entitled to e-mail delivery. There are also options of creating member-specific profiles; this will entitle you to get information specific to your interests. The online services for a Best customer can be categorized as below:
- Best’s Review Magazines are the monthly publications providing an insight into the insurance industry’s news and trends.
- Best’s Week Newsletters are weekly publications with detailed industry stories. Along with the newsletters, you get access to the Best newsroom and can search its archives for past items.
- Best’s State Rate Filings are published every month to keep you updated on the activities in every state. The news includes changes in ratings, approved state filings, introduction of new policies and so on.
- Best’s Insurance Reports on CD-ROM include all the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the conditions of companies in property, casualty, life and health and international insurance organizations.
- Statement Files are based on five years of financial statement data of thousands of property, casualty, life and health companies.
Thus as an A.M. Best company, you not only get a financial strength rating, you are also entitled to a whole range of Best publications including over 50 references, periodicals, software products and other resources that encompass every aspect of the insurance industry.
