Aon Reveals the Ward’s 50 List of Top-Performing Insurance Companies for 2021
- Source: Press Release
- Published: July 2021
CHICAGO, July 20, 2021 – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, has released the list of
Ward's 50® top-performing insurance companies for 2021, 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 10.7 percent statutory return on average equity from 2016 to 2020, compared to 7.0 percent for the property-casualty industry overall.
- The Ward’s 50 life-health group of insurance companies produced a 14.4 percent statutory return on average equity from 2016 to 2020, compared to 8.4 percent for the life-health industry overall.
In addition to achieving greater levels of profitability, 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 (24.2 percent compared to 21.0 percent) and had a lower lapse ratio (5.2 percent compared to 6.0 percent).
- The Ward’s 50 property-casualty group was 5.8 percentage points lower for the five-year combined ratio (94.1 percent compared to the industry’s 99.9 percent) and grew policyholder surplus by 44.0 percent compared to 30.8 percent for the industry in the five-year period since 2016.
- Net premiums written for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group grew 28.0 percent compared to the industry’s 23.3 percent growth.
“The COVID-19 pandemic impacted 2020 financial results in various ways for companies, with some benefiting from lower losses but most were challenged to meet premium growth objectives. 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 2020, expenses relative to revenue were 7.8 percent lower for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group of companies and 9.3 percent lower for the Ward’s 50 life-health group, compared to the industry.
For a complete list of the 2021 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 31st 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.
About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.
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Media Contact
Kelly Sparrer
+1 408 321 2584
ksparrer@aon.com