A recent press release by A.M. Best announces that they have revised their rating of Nationwide Financial Services to negative. Nationwide’s rating had been stable.
A.M. Best says that the downgrade are is largely due to the fact that the firm’s financial performance is heavily based on the equity markets. Its products include variable annuities and variable life insurance, the former of which has been hit severely by the stock market’s fall. Nationwide’s line of variable annuities is currently garnering negative net flows.
However, there is a silver lining: the company has positive total annuity flows, presumably due to successful fixed annuity sales.
