BANKING / FINANCE

Rating on Mend: PM Group Life Insurance Co. of Fountain Valley is getting a bit stronger and safer, at least according to one consumer survey.

PM climbed from a D rating to a C- rating in the just-released Insurance Safety Directory for 1990-91 compiled by Weiss Research Inc., a West Palm Beach, Fla., consumer service that rates financial institutions.

PM, one of only three California life insurance companies to improve in the ratings this year, was formed two years ago by its parent company, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Newport Beach.

Pacific Mutual, one of the nation’s largest life insurers with $8.6 billion in assets, maintained its B- rating. Another Orange County carrier, Balboa Life Insurance Co. in Irvine, also kept its B- rating.

Weiss Research rates more than 2,000 life, health and annuity firms by using computer analysis of various financial measures, such as a company’s capital and investment risks. Its ratings on a scale of A+ to F are intended to correspond to school grades so that consumers can readily see how safe and stable an institution is.