AM Best Assigns Performance Assessment to Kay International AMEA Limited

AM Best has assigned a Performance Assessment of PA-3 (Strong) to Kay International AMEA Limited (Kay International AMEA) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook assigned to the Performance Assessment (assessment) is stable.

The assessment reflects Kay International AMEA’s strong underwriting capabilities, strong governance and internal controls, excellent financial condition, strong organisational talent and fair depth and breadth of relationships.

Kay International AMEA is a managing general agent (MGA) specialising in facultative reinsurance covers in emerging markets globally. The MGA’s underwriting capabilities benefit from strong in-house knowledge and expertise in the regional commercial reinsurance markets that it targets. Since commencing underwriting in 2019, Kay International AMEA has demonstrated robust growth in its target markets, notably in 2023 and 2024. As part of its business model, the MGA underwrites higher layers on each risk, limiting the volatility of underwriting results of its capacity providers, supported by clear and disciplined underwriting guidelines. Kay International AMEA has generated profitable business for its capacity providers; however, it is viewed to have a limited track record with over half of its programs commencing within the last three years.

Kay International AMEA has a structured governance framework, reinforced by policies and recovery plans, which support the MGA’s scale and complexity of operations. Additionally, the MGA benefits from being regulated by Dubai Financial Services Authority and compliance requirements of having been incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Kay International AMEA aligns its interest with its capacity providers through a profit commission structure; however, profit commission collection will commence in the second half of 2025. The MGA’s exposure to key person risk is partially mitigated by its organisational structure and established authority levels, particularly within its underwriting and finance departments.

The MGA’s financial position is supported by its consistently profitable operations since inception and growing revenue and cashflows. Robust net income in recent years with the practice of retaining at least 25% of prior year profits have supported growth of retained earnings. Kay International AMEA’s financial condition benefits from diversification of income streams, which is comprised of brokerage commissions in addition to the MGA’s commissions. The MGA benefits from a simple capital structure with no debt obligations.

Kay International AMEA’s senior management team possesses extensive experience in the commercial insurance and reinsurance industry. The MGA’s board of directors brings further experience and oversight. The organizational structure is compact and efficient with well-defined roles and responsibilities. However, there are limited training programs available to develop talent with the focus predominantly on regulatory and compliance training.

The MGA offers a range of reinsurance programs in emerging markets; however, it is heavily concentrated to the facultative property program. The associated concentration risk is managed by Kay International AMEA with the participation of over 10 rated capacity providers in this program. An offsetting factor to the assessment is Kay International AMEA’s relatively short tenure of relationships with its capacity providers since the majority of its programs and carrier relationships were established within the last three years.

Since the start-up phase, the MGA has shown a positive trajectory of growth supported by improving results. A demonstrable track record of improved performance as the MGA matures may translate into a stronger offering to be business partners over the medium term.

This press release relates to Performance Assessments that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the Performance Assessments referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s website. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Performance Assessments, please view Guide to Best’s Performance Assessments for Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises. For information on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments.

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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