Fitch Ratings has affirmed Societe Tunisienne de Reassurance’s (Tunis Re) National Insurer Financial Strength (National IFS) Rating at ‘AA(tun)’. The Rating Outlook is Stable, it said Thursday.
The credit rating agency pointed out that Tunis Re’s National IFS is driven by its “strong creditworthiness versus its local peers’, benefiting from its leading domestic market position and its extensive international presence in higher-rated countries than Tunisia.”
Fitch believes that Tunis Re’s earnings are strong for its rating, underpinned by solid underwriting performance. It reported a robust net combined ratio of 92.7% in 2023 (2022: 91.7%) in spite of the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey, which caused the company’s Fitch-calculated gross loss ratio to surge to 65.2% in 2023 from 43% the prior year as Tunis Re’s conservative reinsurance practices helped contain the net impact.
The rating agency views Tunis Re’s investment portfolio as high-risk due to its significant asset concentration to Tunisia, primarily in the form of monetary and fixed-income investments, it pointed out.
