CINCINNATI (July 17, 2018) – The list of Ward's 50® top performing insurance companies was released by Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions. Ward benchmarking is the leading operational and compensation benchmarking and best practices service for insurance companies.

The Ward’s 50 property-casualty group of insurance companies produced an 11.4 percent statutory return on average equity from 2013 to 2017, compared to 8.1 percent for the property-casualty industry overall. The Ward’s 50 life-health group of insurance companies produced a 17.2 percent statutory return on average equity from 2013 to 2017, compared to 9.5 percent for the life-health industry overall.   

“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.

In addition to achieving greater levels of income returns, the Ward’s 50 benchmarks also outperformed in other key performance benchmarks:

• The Ward’s 50 life-health group of companies outpaced the industry for five-year policyholder surplus growth (23.5 percent compared to 16.7 percent) and revenue growth (12.0 percent compared to 11.1 percent).
• The Ward’s 50 property-casualty group compared 5.9 points lower for the five-year combined ratio (93.4 percent compared to 99.3 percent) and grew policyholder surplus by 23.3 percent compared to 15.8 percent for the industry since 2013.
• Net premiums written for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group grew 27.3 percent compared to the industry’s 16.7 percent growth. 

The Ward’s 50 benchmark group also continues to achieve lower expense ratios. “The expense ratio decreased slightly in 2017 for the property-casualty but increased for the life-health benchmark. We still find the Ward’s 50 benchmarks comparing better than the industry average,” said Rieder.

In 2017, expenses relative to revenue were 9.0 percent lower for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group of companies and 13.9 percent lower for the Ward’s 50 life-health group. 

For a complete list of the 2018 Ward’s 50 companies, or to order a Ward’s 50 comparison report comparing an individual company’s results to the Ward's 50 benchmarks for select metrics, go to ward.aon.com/ward-benchmarking/wards50.

About the Ward’s Top 50
To develop its annual list of the top 50 performing insurance companies, we analyze 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 has passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed. This is the 28th consecutive year we have conducted the analysis. 

Safety and Consistency Tests
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% and 40%

Performance Measurements
We'll review 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 measured and scored on the following elements:

• 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.

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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About Ward Benchmarking
We are the leading provider of benchmarking and best practices studies for the insurance industry. We analyzes staff levels, compensation, business practices, and expenses for all areas of company operations and helps insurers to measure results compared to peer groups, optimize performance, and improve profitability. For more information, please visit ward.aon.com.

Media Contact:
Betty Cornelius, 513.746.2404, betty.cornelius@aon.com