The list of Ward's 50® top-performing insurance companies for 2023, identifying U.S. companies that have achieved superior financial performance. Ward benchmarking is the leading operational and compensation benchmarking and best practices service for insurance companies.
Key highlights from the list include:
- The Ward's 50 property-casualty group of insurance companies produced a 9.1 percent statutory return on average equity from 2018 to 2022, compared to 6.5 percent for the property-casualty industry overall.
- The Ward's 50 life-health group of insurance companies produced a 12.4 percent statutory return on average equity from 2018 to 2022, compared to 7.2 percent for the life-health industry overall.
In addition to achieving greater levels of income, the Ward's 50 companies also outperformed in other key benchmarks:
- The Ward's 50 life-health group of companies outpaced the industry for five-year policyholder surplus growth (28.6 percent compared to 24.6 percent) and had a lower lapse ratio (5.2 percent compared to 5.8 percent).
- The Ward's 50 property-casualty group was 4.7 percentage points lower for the five-year combined ratio (95.0 percent compared to the industry's 99.7 percent) and grew policyholder surplus by 48.7 percent compared to 37.2 percent for the industry for the five-year period since 2018.
- Net premiums written for the Ward's 50 property-casualty group grew 39.0 percent compared to the industry's 26.5 percent growth.
"Insurance companies have been impacted by very turbulent economic, catastrophe and labor challenges over the past several years. In selecting the Ward's 50, we identified companies that pass financial stability requirements and measure their ability to grow while maintaining strong capital positions and underwriting results," said Jeff Rieder, partner and head of Ward benchmarking at Aon.
The Ward's 50 benchmark group also continues to achieve lower expense ratios:
- In 2022, expenses relative to revenue were 8.2 percent lower for the Ward's 50 property-casualty group of companies and 13.4 percent lower for the Ward's 50 life-health group, compared to the industry.
For a complete list of the 2023 Ward's 50 companies, or to order a Ward’s 50 report comparing an individual company's results to the Ward's 50 benchmarks for select metrics, go to ward.aon.com/ward-benchmarking/wards50.
Methodology
To develop the Ward's 50 annual list of the top-performing insurance companies, Aon analyzes the financial performance of nearly 2,900 property-casualty insurance companies and nearly 700 life-health insurance companies domiciled in the United States, identifying the top performers in each segment based on objective data and subjective quality measures. Each company on the list has passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed. This is the 33nd consecutive year Aon has conducted the analysis.
Each company must pass primary safety and consistency tests, including:
- 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
- Compound annual growth in premiums between -10 percent and 40 percent
Aon reviews the financial stability of all companies to ensure that they have the potential to grow while maintaining strong financial figures. Companies that pass the safety and consistency tests are scored on the following performance measurements:
- Five-Year Average Return on Average Equity
- Five-Year Average Return on Average Assets
- Five-Year Average Return on Total Revenue
- Five-Year Growth in Revenue
- Five-Year Growth in Surplus
- Five-Year Average Combined Ratio*
* Applicable only to property-casualty insurance companies.
Ward is the leading provider of benchmarking and best practices studies for the insurance industry, analyzing staff levels, compensation, business practices, and expenses for all areas of company operations and helping insurers measure results compared to peer groups, optimize performance, and improve profitability. For more information, please visit ward.aon.com.