Capital Insurance Group Recognized as a 2011 Ward’s 50

Top Performing Insurance Company by Ward Group

This is the Seventh Appearance for CIG, the Leading Property and Casualty Insurer Serving the Western U.S.

MONTEREY, Calif. (July 13, 2011) – Peter Cazzolla, President and CEO of Capital Insurance Group (CIG), announced this week that the company has been listed on the 2011 Ward’s 50 Top Performing Insurance Companies in the United States. For the seventh time in the last decade, CIG is recognized for achieving outstanding results in the areas of safety, consistency, and financial performance over a five-year period (2006-2010).

Ward Group is the leading provider of benchmarking and best practice research studies for insurance companies. Each of the 2011 Ward’s 50 companies is awarded the Ward’s 50 Seal, and their names are listed as the Ward’s 50 Top Performers for the year. This is the 21st year Ward Group has conducted this analysis.

“This award recognizes our company for outstanding results in key areas that we consider important to our business philosophy: safety, consistency, and financial performance,” said Cazzolla. “Being recognized for superior performance for a seventh time is a reflection of the dedication and hard work by our employees, agents, and business partners.”

The Ward Group analyzed more than 3,000 U.S.-based property-casualty insurance companies from 2006 – 2010 and identified the top performers in each segment. To be considered for the Ward’s 50 designation, a company must pass the following primary safety and consistency tests:

• Surplus and premiums of at least $50 million for each of the five years analyzed
• Net income in at least four of the last five years
• Risk-based capital ratio of at least 100% for each of the five years analyzed
• Compound annual growth in premiums between -10% and +40%
• Net Written Premium divided by Gross Written Premium is greater than 50%
• Gross Written Premium divided by Net Written Premium is less than 130%
• Rank in top 10% of peer business mix benchmark group
• Must pass Ward Group’s evaluation of company operations

In addition, the Ward’s 50 Group achieved greater levels of efficiency when compared to their peer companies that outperformed the competition in Ward’s performance-based metrics.