CINCINNATI (July 16, 2019) – Aon plc, 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 2019, 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 an 11.6 percent statutory return on average equity from 2014 to 2018, compared to 7.6 percent for the property-casualty industry overall.
• The Ward’s 50 life-health group of insurance companies produced an 18.5 percent statutory return on average equity from 2014 to 2018, compared to 9.1 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 (14.4 percent compared to 11.8 percent) and revenue growth (21.4 percent compared to -6.4 percent).
• The Ward’s 50 property-casualty group was 6.2 percentage points lower for the five-year combined ratio (93.4 percent compared to the industry’s 99.6 percent) and grew policyholder surplus by 19.7 percent compared to 10.1 percent for the industry for the five-year period since 2014.
• Net premiums written for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group grew 35.3 percent compared to the industry’s 23.0 percent growth. 

“Although financial conditions improved in 2018, the insurance industry faces dynamic disruptions and a rapidly changing business environment. The operating model of the insurance industry has transformed significantly over the past decade,” said Jeff Rieder, partner and head of Ward benchmarking at Aon. “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.”

The Ward’s 50 benchmark group also continues to achieve lower expense ratios:

• In 2018, expenses relative to revenue were 9.3 percent lower for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group of companies and 28.1 percent lower for the Ward’s 50 life-health group, compared to the industry.

For a complete list of the 2019 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 3,000 property-casualty insurance companies and more than 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 29th 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
Nadine Youssef, +1 312-381-2329 or nadine.youssef@aon.com