These insurance companies reached notable success in the industry globally
Top 10 insurance companies in the world. Source: shutterstock.com
Thinking about the worst things that can happen to any human is stressful enough. Superstitious people or those who believe in the ultimate power of positive thinking may avoid even talking about death, illness, fires, natural disasters, or tragic accidents. Nevertheless, misfortunes happen, and preparing for them is only wise. Insuring one’s property or life alleviates the financial burden in times when there’s enough moral pain to deal with.
Insurance helps you:
- Own a home, covering for repairs and replacement of any damage.
- Drive vehicles.
- Maintain your current standard of living if you become disabled or have a critical illness.
- Cover healthcare costs.
- Provide for your family after your death.
- Run a business.
- Take vacations without worrying about flight cancellations or emergency medical expenses abroad.
The insurance industry is a major component of the economy too. Recent disasters have demonstrated that without insurance, the impact on individuals, businesses, and communities can be devastating.
10 leading insurance companies worldwide
If you truly care about your safety net, you should let your problems be handled by the best field players. In this list of insurance industry leaders, there are companies with the biggest market caps, largest operational areas, strongest customer trust, and the best policies.
1. Allianz SE
The Allianz Group is a global company specializing in insurance and asset management. In 2015, it celebrated its 125th anniversary. Allianz serves 92M clients in 70 countries. In 2018, their total revenues were estimated as €130.6B with an operating profit of €11.5B. In the first nine months of 2019, operating profit grew 4.2 %.
Here you can insure property and accidents, life and health, as well as get credit insurance, assistance services, and re-insurance. The German insurance giant has made several investments in European renewable energy projects and has become an Olympic insurance partner.
2. Axa S.A.
Serving over 102 million customers in 61 countries, AXA is one of the world’s major insurance groups. It deals with property and accident insurance, life insurance, savings, and asset management. In 2018, total revenues were up 4% on a comparable basis to €102,874 million.
It is also known for its high ethical standards. For instance, the company paid out on claims for those travelers affected by Donald Trump’s controversial refugee and immigration ban, even though they were not “technically covered” for this type of circumstance. AXA also stopped investing in tobacco and divested all of its €1.8B of assets in the industry.
Most recently, AXA has developed a new climate-focused protection solution FastCat and stopped offering cover to new coal projects. FastCat uses weather alerting technologies, satellite imagery and drones to provide support against natural disasters.
3. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has claimed the top spot by net premiums written (NPW) for the fifth year in a row in 2018, with $178.08 million. The corporate 2019 Full Year Revenues of $242 Billion Grew by $16 Billion or 7% Year-On-Year.
It owns and manages organized health systems in all the US states and 130 countries internationally. The Group provides employers with products and resources to plan and administer employee benefit programs. UnitedHealth also serves the health needs of older Americans, provides specialized care services, and provides health care information and research via the Optum platform.
4. China Life Insurance (Group) Company
China Life Insurance (Group) Company, headquartered in Beijing, is the largest state-owned financial and insurance company in China. In December 2018, its revenues comprised $98,821.34M. According to Reuters, its net profit in 2019 went up 400%, which is a sign of an extremely successful business strategy.
Currently, it operates in many fields, covering life insurance, property insurance, accident insurance, pension plans (enterprise annuity), banking, funds, asset management, wealth management, industrial investment, overseas business, etc. Meanwhile, it holds large shares in securities, trusts, futures, real estate, and other fields through strategic investment. The company is catering to a total of nearly 200 million customers.
5. Berkshire Hathaway
With a market cap of $516.4B, the company deals with various types of business such as property and accident insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing, and services.
It is a holding company run by chairman and CEO Warren Buffett. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Berkshire Hathaway was originally a company comprised of a group of textile milling plants. Buffet has contributed to the corporate growth with his progressive investment strategy.
In addition to owning private companies, Berkshire also has a large investment portfolio of stocks in major public companies, such as Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC). Berkshire’s public market equity portfolio is valued at $183 billion.
Warren Buffett’s conglomerate ranks 4th on the Fortune 500 list.
6. MetLife
This Fortune 42 company serves 100 million customers in nearly 50 countries around the world. It offers life, accident and health insurance, retirement, and savings products through agents, third-party distributors such as banks and brokers, and direct marketing channels. It is also planning to introduce pet insurance products through the acquisition of PetFirst Healthcare, LLC.
MetLife’s mobile app allows managing your auto and home insurance directly from your mobile device 24/7. It also helps to find a dentist or a vision provider in your area, as well as track your daily brushes and flossings with the built-in reminders and timers.
Their My Journey app, available to MetLife Auto & Home customers in select states who have enrolled in the program, uses information such as total mileage, high speed, and hard braking to calculate an overall driving score to improve your driving safety. The app also shows a driver distraction score, illustrating how cell phone usage in the car can potentially affect your driving.
MetLife has been named one of America’s “Most Responsible Companies” by Newsweek magazine. It has also become the first life insurance company to earn Fitwel certifications for its commitment to healthy workplaces.
The company has $500B under-investment and a market cap of $48.382B.
7. Nippon Life Insurance Company
Nippon Life Insurance Company provides illness, hospitalization, nursing, death, pension, educational, and other life insurance services. It conducts business in Japan.
Nippon Life was founded in 1889. Since 2007, their 50,000-strong salesforce conducts annual face-to-face meetings with customers to provide highly detailed customer service.
This year, Nippon plans to bolster investment in health and artificial intelligence startups, as well as fledgling companies developing fintech, or financial services using information technology.
8. Prudential plc
Prudential plc is a British multinational life insurance and financial services company that has 20 million customers worldwide. It provides international insurance and financial services through its subsidiaries and affiliates. The company has been in existence for 170 years and has £657B in assets under management (as of 31 December 2018).
A wide range of claims has been covered by Prudential over the years, including fire, flood, marine, motor, railway, industrial and domestic accidents. Most notoriously, the sinking of the Titanic on 14 April 1912 resulted in the loss of over 1,500 lives. By June 1912, Prudential had paid £14,239 in claims for 324 lives.
Prudential Corporation Asia launched Pulse – an all-in-one digital app using AI-powered self-help tools and real-time information. Users of Pulse can enjoy innovative offerings from Babylon (symptom checker and health assessment), Tictrac (personal wellness services), DoctorOnCall (online consultation), and AIME (dengue outbreak predictor). All these partners leverage cutting-edge technology to offer complementary services.
9. Zurich Insurance (ZURVY)
Zurich Insurance (ZURVY) is a holding company, which operates through such segments: Property and Casualty Regions, Life Regions, Farmers, Group Functions and Operations, and Non-Core Businesses.
It offers a comprehensive range of life and health insurance products on both an individual and a group basis, including annuities, endowment and term insurance, unit-linked and investment-orientated products, as well as full private health, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance.
The company’s customers from 210 different countries and territories include individuals, small businesses, mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations.
The corporate business operating profit in 2018 was $2.1B for the Property&Casualty segment and $1.6B for both Life solutions and Farmers management services.
Zurich has announced a range of ambitious targets for the 2020-2022 period. After having simplified its operations, the Group will shift its focus and investments to applications and products that will enhance the customer experience.
10. Munich Reinsurance Company
Munich Reinsurance Company is a leading global provider of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions based in Germany. ERGO, a Munich Re subsidiary, is the Group’s primary insurance arm.
5,000 insurance companies in around 160 countries rely on Munich Re’s reinsurance expertise and financial strength. Of the gross premiums, around 66% comes from property-casualty and 34% from life and health business.
Munich Re has been known for its unrivaled risk-related expertise and its sound financial position since 1880. It offers customers financial protection when faced with exceptional levels of damage – from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake through to the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season and to the California wildfires in 2018.
Ranking 147 on the Forbes list, the company has a $36.3B market cap. Its sales volumes near to $63B.
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