ALDUICK, NJ March 27, 2024—(BUSINESS WIRE)–AM Best affirmed the financial strength rating of A (excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating of ‘a+’ (excellent) of RBC Life Insurance Company (RBC Life) (Mississauga, Ontario). The outlook for these credit ratings (ratings) is stable.
The ratings reflect RBC Life’s strong balance sheet, which AM Best rates as very strong, as well as its strong operating results, neutral business profile and appropriate corporate risk management.
RBC Life is ultimately owned by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Canada’s largest bank as measured by market capitalization. Although RBC Life benefits from its relationship with RBC, RBC Life’s ratings do not currently receive any explicit markup. The parent bank is a strong organization with approximately C$118 billion in IFRS equity at the end of FY2023 and C$2 trillion in assets. The group earned approximately C$14.9 billion in net income on revenues of C$56 billion in fiscal 2023. AM Best notes that given the parent company’s past history of capital support, RBC may provide additional capital if RBC Life ever needs capital to maintain its risk-adjusted level of capitalization. RBC demonstrated this support through cash infusions in the form of issued share capital of approximately CAD 75 million in 2011; CAD 85 million in 2012 and 2015; CAD 50 million in 2018; and CAD 470 million in 2022.
Over the past five years, RBC Life has adjusted its capital management strategy by limiting dividends paid upwards to its parent companies to increase its level of available capital in anticipation of its transition to IFRS 17 and to maintain its risk-adjusted capitalization , measured on the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT). In addition, RBC contributed CAD 45 million in cash to RBC Life in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023.
The stable outlook reflects a very strong overall assessment of RBC Life’s balance sheet strength, supported by the highest level of risk-adjusted capitalization as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) and strong operating performance. Over the next several quarters, AM Best will monitor the impact of IFRS 17 on RBC Life’s ratings, and in particular its asset and liability management, investment performance, new business strategies and related capital strains in the competitive life and disability insurance market.
This press release refers to the credit ratings that are published on the AM Best website. For all rating information relating to the release and relevant disclosures, including details of the agency responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings set out in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent assessment activity Web page. For additional information on the use and limitations of credit score opinions, please see Guide to Best Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best’s credit ratings, Best’s performance ratings, Best’s preliminary credit ratings, and AM Best’s press releases, see A guide to the proper use of Best’s ratings and reviews.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information visit www.ambest.com.
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