Financial strength

All of us are enduring economic conditions that many of us have not experienced in our lifetime. Now more than ever it is natural for you and your customers to want assurance in the financial stability of your insurance carrier. While no one has been immune to market conditions, Assurant is forging against the headwinds of this recession better than most.

We want to assure you that despite market volatility, Assurant Employee Benefits and its parent company, Assurant Inc., remain strong.
Assurant Employee Benefits is backed by the financial strength of Assurant, Inc. a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, with more than $25 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue.

Assurant maintains a diversified, disciplined investment philosophy.
Our investment strategy is low risk, not no risk. Our portfolio has held up better than many thanks in large part to the asset classes we chose not to own - no credit default swaps and no exposure to asset backed collateralized debt obligations.

Assurant Employee Benefits continues to maintain strong financial ratings.
The primary underwriting entity for Assurant Employee Benefits’ products, Union Security Insurance Company, has recently been assigned a stable outlook by A.M. Best, Moody’s and Fitch. Moody’s affirmed Assurant’s rating and changed the outlook to stable, “due to continued strong operating performance in spite of a difficult economic environment and turmoil in the capital markets.”

We believe Assurant Employee Benefits and its parent company, Assurant Inc., maintain a strong capital position.
Our conservative investment portfolio and low overall asset leverage gives us balance sheet integrity, financial flexibility and set us apart from other insurance companies. Assurant’s top line as measured by earned premium and fees has grown by more than 5 percent a year since 2004. We are maintaining higher-than-normal levels of liquidity, and began 2009 with approximately $230 million in excess capital.

Being a specialized insurance company is allowing us to do more than just weather the storm. We are well-positioned to be one of the “winners” going forward.

Sincerely,

John Roberts
President and CEO