AM Best holds Athene at A+ as the asset test looms

For an annuity balance sheet, an affirmation is quiet good news: it leaves the group's standing unchanged and does nothing to disturb liability pricing. AM Best delivered one on Aug. 27, affirming the A+ (Superior) financial strength rating and 'aa-' (Superior) long-term issuer credit ratings of Athene Group's members and keeping Athene Holding Ltd. and its subsidiaries inside the agency's Superior tier.

The affirmation leaves the asset side untouched, and Athene is exactly the kind of major institutional balance sheet that the wider push into less-liquid credit is built around. This publication tracked that push a week ago, when Apollo pitched insurers on a $2.5 trillion sports-financing gap.

The rating is a liability opinion: it says policyholder promises are covered, but does not pass on the private allocations that pay for them. The next write-down in the general account will separate allocation from underwriting, and that is where Athene's credit will be tested, without waiting for a rating change.

The affirmation is useful but narrow; the next repricing of Athene's credit story will start not at a rating agency but when a write-down in the private book lands on the earnings statement and the market attaches a number to it.