The insurer financial strength rating on William Penn Life Insurance Co. of New York (WPL), which--along with Banner Life Insurance Co.--is a member of the Legal & General America Group (LGA), reflects the group's strong competitive position, robust earnings, and strong capitalization. Partially offsetting these positive factors is the group's lack of a diversified product portfolio. The ratings also reflect Standard & Poor's Ratings Services belief that LGA is strategically important to its ultimate parent, Legal & General Group PLC. LGA's management is successfully executing a strategy implemented in 1997 of focusing exclusively on selling term insurance to upper-middle-income consumers through the brokerage channel. LGA has gone from being a Top 50 writer of term insurance in 1997 to being
