After analyzing nearly 3,000 property & casualty insurers and more than 700 life & health insurers, The Ward Group this week unveiled its 2017 list of the Ward’s 50 list of top-performing companies.
Each Ward’s 50 company has passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed. Ward Group has conducted the Ward’s 50 analysis since 1991. It is a financial analysis of the insurance industry based on publicly available data and conducted independently of the Ward Group’s annual benchmarking programs.
The Ward’s 50 property-casualty group of insurance companies produced an 11.4% statutory return on average equity from 2012 to 2016, compared to 8.4% for the property-casualty industry overall.
The Ward’s 50 life-health group of insurance companies produced a 17.5% statutory return on average equity from 2012 to 2016, compared to 9.6% for the life-health industry overall.
“Low investment returns, rising loss costs, and competitive market conditions continue to impact financial returns for the industry. 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 Group.
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 (19.8% compared to 16.0%) and net premium income growth (10.8% compared to 0.9%).
• The Ward’s 50 property-casualty group compared 6.4 points lower for the five-year combined ratio (92.6% compared to 99.0%) and grew policyholder surplus by 30.9% compared to 20.6% for the industry since 2012.
• Net premiums written for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group grew 30.1% compared to the industry’s 16.6% growth.
The Ward’s 50 benchmark group also continues to achieve lower expense ratios. “The expense ratio decreased slightly in 2016 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 2016, expenses relative to revenue were 9.3% lower for the Ward’s 50 property-casualty group of companies and 10.0% lower for the Ward’s 50 life-health group.
2017 Ward’s 50 Property & Casualty companies
(Listed alphabetically)
ACUITY
Alaska National Insurance Company
Alleghany Group
Allstate Insurance Company
AMERISAFE
The Andover Companies
Assurant, Inc.
Auto-Owners Insurance Group
Central Insurance Companies
Chubb Group
Church Mutual Insurance Company
Cincinnati Insurance Group
Farm Bureau of Michigan Group
Farm Bureau Property & Casualty Insurance Company
Federated Mutual Group
First Insurance Company of Hawaii, LTD
FM Global
Frankenmuth Insurance
Franklin Mutual Insurance Group
GEICO*
Goodville Mutual Casualty Company
Great American Insurance Group
Grinnell Mutual Group
HCC Insurance Holdings Group
ICW Group
Island Insurance Companies
Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company
Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation
Markel Corporation Group
Missouri Farm Bureau Insurance
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc
Nodak Insurance Company
North Star Mutual Insurance Company
Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company
Philadelphia Insurance Companies
Pioneer State Mutual Insurance Company
ProAssurance
Progressive Insurance Group
RLI Insurance Company*
Rural Mutual Insurance Company
SECURA Insurance Companies
Selective Insurance Company of America
Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company
Texas Mutual Insurance Company
Travelers Insurance Group
Vermont Mutual Insurance Company
W.R. Berkley Corporation
West Bend Mutual Insurance Company
Western Mutual Insurance Group
Western National Insurance Group
Note: The companies listed above rank as the top performing life-health companies based on the Ward Group annual analysis of the insurance industry. They each have passed all safety and consistency screens and have achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed (2012-2016). Companies are listed alphabetically. An important objective is to benchmark their performance as a group. Individual company results compared to the Ward’s 50 benchmark are available for purchase from the Ward Group website.
* 26-year recipient, 1991-2017.
2017 Ward’s 50 Life & Health companies
(Listed alphabetically)
Aetna Life Insurance Company
AFLAC
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America
American Family Life Insurance Company
American Fidelity Assurance Company
American General Life Insurance Company
American Republic Insurance Company
Americo Financial Life and Annuity Insurance Company
Anthem Life Insurance Company
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company
Bankers Life & Casualty Company
Berkley Life and Health Insurance Company
Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Nebraska
CIGNA Group
Combined Insurance Company of America
Companion Life Insurance Company
Delaware Life Insurance Company
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company
Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company of Michigan
Farmers New World Life Insurance Company
Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company
Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company
Forethought Life Insurance Company
Great American Insurance Group
Great Western Insurance Company
HCC Life Insurance Company
HM Life Insurance Company
Integrity Life Insurance Company
Liberty National Life Insurance Company
LifeWise Assurance Company
M Life Insurance Company
Midland National Life Insurance Company
National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company
Nationwide Life Insurance Company
Ozark National Life Insurance Company
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Primerica Life Insurance Company
Principal Life Insurance Company
RiverSource Life Insurance Company
ShelterPoint Life Insurance Company
Standard Insurance Company
State Farm Life Insurance Company
Symetra Life Insurance Company
Tennessee Farmers Life Insurance Company
United Insurance Company of America
UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company
Unum Life Insurance Company of America
USAA Life Insurance Company
USAble Life Insurance Company
Note: The companies listed above rank as the top performing life-health companies based on the Ward Group annual analysis of the insurance industry. They each have passed all safety and consistency screens and have achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed (2012-2016). Companies are listed alphabetically. An important objective is to benchmark their performance as a group. Individual company results compared to the Ward’s 50 benchmark are available for purchase from the Ward Group website.
About the Ward’s Top 50: To develop its annual list of the top 50 performing insurance companies, Ward Group 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 has passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed. This is the 27th consecutive year Ward Group has conducted the analysis.
Safety and Consistency Tests: Insurance companies are evaluated and must pass minimum thresholds to be considered for the Ward’s 50 designation. 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 (property-casualty)
- Adjusted net income in at least four of the last five years (life-health)
- Compound annual growth in premiums between -10 percent and +40 percent
Performance Measurements: 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 Average Combined Ratio (property-casualty)
- Five-Year Growth in Surplus
About Ward Group: Ward Group is the leading provider of benchmarking and best practices studies for the insurance industry. The firm 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. Ward Group is part of Aon plc (NYSE: AON). For more information, please visit wardinc.com.
