OREANDA-NEWS. June 30, 2015. Fitch Ratings has affirmed AIA Company Limited Thailand Branch's (AIA Thailand) National Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating at 'AAA(tha)'. The Outlook is Stable.

KEY RATING DRIVERS
The rating reflects AIA Thailand's legal status as a branch of AIA Company Limited (AIACL). The rating is based on AIACL's strong market franchise, sustained sound financial performance and strong capitalisation. AIACL is among the leading life insurers in Asia with presence in 18 markets in Asia-Pacific and more than 28 million individual policies. The company has total assets of USD169bn as of 30 November 2014.

AIACL's profitability remained strong, with its pre-tax return on assets of 2.8% for the year ended 30 November 2014 (FY14), up from 2.5% for FY13. Its value of new business (VONB) rose 24% to USD1.8bn while VONB margin increased to 49.1% in FY14 (FY13: 44.1%) reflecting the group's focus on optimising the product mix for sustainable growth in total new business value. The company's consolidated solvency ratio was at 427% at FYE14 (FYE13: 433%), which was among the highest in the industry.

The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that AIACL will continue to maintain a strong credit profile in the medium to long term.

Thailand is AIACL's second-largest market, after Hong Kong, contributing 18% and 17% to AIACL's VONB and total weighted premium income in FY14 respectively. AIA Thailand is the market leader in the Thai life insurance industry with a 22.8% market share in FY14 (25.0% in FY13) by total premiums written. The company's regulatory risk-based capital of 522% as at end-September 2014 is among the highest in the industry and significantly higher than the minimum requirement of 140%.

RATING SENSITIVITIES
A material deterioration in AIACL's credit profile could have a negative impact on AIA Thailand's rating. This could include an unexpected significant deterioration in financial performance, that is, pre-tax return on assets falling to below 1%, debt to capital rising above 20%, and below investment-grade bonds to total equity rising above 40% for an extended period. However, Fitch does not expect these risks to materialise in the medium term.

AIA Thailand's National IFS Rating is already at the highest possible level, and cannot be upgraded further.