Fitch Ratings has revised the outlooks on Utmost insurance subsidiaries' IFS Ratings and Issuer Default Rating to Positive from Stable.

The IFS Ratings were affirmed at ‘A' and IDR at ‘A-'.
 
Fitch said in the statement on 15 June: "The positive outlook reflects the Group's improving business risk profile, supported by the Group's progress with the integration of Quilter International. The integration is on track to complete in line with the deadline set out at completion of Q4 2023.
 
"The Outlook revision also reflects the Group's increased scale, achieved whilst maintaining its strong operating profitability, robust capitalisation and conservative financial leverage."

At YE 2022, the Group's SCR Ratio was 191% (YE 2021: 177%), its Fitch Financial Leverage Ratio was 23% (YE 2021: 20%), and its Fitch-calculated Operating Return on Equity ("OROE") was 14.3% (2021: 13.5%). 

Fitch further cited key rating drivers: 

Improving Company Profile: Fitch believes that Utmost Group's business risk profile is improving as the group is on track to successfully complete the integration of its most recent acquisition of Quilter International in November 2021. The majority of the planned integration steps have been completed. The group has an established record of adequately managing the execution risks associated with integrating acquired businesses. Utmost Group's operating scale has improved considerably over the past few years, supported by acquisitions of international and investment bond businesses from several European insurance groups, and closed books in the UK.

Leading Business Franchise: Utmost Group has a leading business franchise in the international life and savings market, focusing on servicing high-net-worth individuals. It is the market leader in this segment with total assets under administration (AUA) of GBP58.4 billion at end-2022 (end-2021: GBP63.7 billion). The group's AUA reduced in 2022 due to adverse market movements caused by a rise in interest rates, which was partially offset by resilient net inflows of GBP1.3 billion (2021: GBP1.5 billion, including the full year net inflows from Quilter International) supported by strong client retention.

In addition, the group has acquired closed life insurance books in the UK through its Utmost Life and Pensions business line and provides employee benefits insurance to multi-national corporates through its Utmost Corporate Solutions operating segment.

Resilient Operating Performance: Utmost Group's Fitch-calculated operating return on equity (OROE) was strong at 14.3% in 2022, an improvement from 13.5% in 2021, helped by improved operating results and a reduction in reported equity as a result of dividend payments. Fitch expects the group's operating profitability to remain strong supported mainly by its profitable in-force business.

However, the group's net income remained volatile due to business acquisitions and amortisation of the acquired value of in-force (ViF) businesses. In 2022, the group's net income dropped to £15m from £367m reported in 2021, where the 2021 results benefited from one-off gains from bargain purchase of acquired businesses.

Strong Capital and Leverage: Utmost Group's capitalisation and leverage is strong, underscored by an 'Extremely Strong' Prism Factor-Based Capital Model score at end-2022, unchanged from end-2021. The group has a strong group Solvency II (S2) solvency capital requirement ratio of 191% end-2022 (end-2021: 177%). The group's Fitch-calculated financial leverage ratio (FLR) was very strong at 23% at end-2022. However, it increased from 20% at end-2021 due to GBP500 million dividend payments and amortisation of acquired ViF, which constrain the growth in IFRS retained earnings.

Strong Debt Service Capabilities: The group's Fitch-calculated fixed-charge coverage (FCC) was strong at 5x in 2022, but down from 8x in 2021 following the group's GBP400 million Tier 2 and GBP300 million restricted Tier 1 issuances in September 2021 and January 2022, respectively. Fitch expects the group's FCC to remain strong, supported by strong operating earnings.

Low Investment Risks: Utmost Group takes on limited investment risk as over 90% of its technical reserves are for investment bond policies and unit-linked policies for which policyholders bear the investment risk. Assets backing non-linked business are dominated by investment-grade bonds and cash.