OLDWICK, N.J:
Swiss Re maintained the top spot in AM Best’s annual ranking of the Top 50 Global Reinsurance groups in 2019 for the second-straight year, and widened its lead over the No. 2-ranked Munich Reinsurance Company, as detailed in the new Best’s Market Segment Report, “Global Reinsurers Maintain Equilibrium Through COVID-19 Turbulence.”
The ranking is based on reinsurance gross premiums written (GPW).
However,in the latest Standard & Poor’s(S&P) list of the top 25 international reinsurers, Munich Re has continued to be the largest global reinsurer in 2019, although second-place Swiss Re AG substantially narrowed the gap between the two.
Swiss Re posted a GPW increase of 16% in 2019 to USD 42.2 billion, driven predominantly by a 25.1% increase in non-life business on large transactions in the Americas and EMEA, along with growth in the group’s natural catastrophe business and rate activity in underperforming lines.
“Swiss Re and Munich Re will likely continue to occupy the top two spots on the list, as they accounted for nearly 30% of the Top 50’s total GPW in 2019, further demonstrating the dominance of large reinsurers at the top of the list,” said Scott Mangan, associate director, AM Best.
China Re,at 7th position,with a gross premium of RS 13.16 billion in 2019,is the only Asian reinurer that finds its place in the AM Best’s list of top 10 global reinsurers
India’s GIC Re,with a gross premium of $6.86 billion,is the12th largest company(11th in 2018 list) in the AM Best list of top 50 global reinsurers Korea Re, with a premium of $6.96 billion is placed just one notch above of GIC Re.
Nine of the top 10 reinsurers held onto their ranking from the previous year, AMBest.
Despite the consistency, Hannover Ruck SE reported GPW growth of 15.8%; China Reinsurance (Group) Corporation, 13.8%; and Great West Lifeco, 31.2%.
The top 10 accounted for 69% of the top 50’s total GPW. In recent years, this percentage has consistently been around 70%, which reinforces AM Best’s sentiment that the industry’s largest reinsurers continue to house disproportionately sizable amounts of risk, despite cedants’ efforts to diversify their reinsurance panels and spread out their counterparty risk.
The top 50 reinsurance groups reported an average combined ratio of 102.4 in 2019, a modest deterioration from the 2018 combined ratio of 100.9. Losses were driven primarily by social inflation in U.S. casualty business and typhoons in Asia, as well as loss creep from 2018 storms.
As the market continues to harden, pricing changes should help improve underlying combined ratios. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a wide variance in performance metrics in 2020.
Other highlights from this year’s Top 50 ranking include:
The largest upward movement was by Validus Reinsurance, Ltd., which moved up five spots to 28, as its GPW grew by 39.1% in 2019. W. R. Berkeley also moved up five spots to No. 45;
S&P’s top 25 global reinsurers list
According to the latest Standard & Poor’s(S&P) list on the global ranking of 25 international reinsurers, Munich Re has continued to top the global reinsurer rankings in 2019, although second-place Swiss Re AG substantially narrowed the gap between the two.
Again like AMBest list,China Re is the only Asian reinsurer to be among the top 10 global reinsurer, on the basis of S& P report.With a total reinsurance premium of $ 13.31 billion, it has fallen one notch down to ninth position in 2019.However,another Asian major Korea Re with a global premium of $ 6.91 billion has improved its position by one notch to 12th from 13th in 2019
India’s GIC Re with a global premium of over $ 6.53 billion in 2019 has maintained its existing 14th position in the new list.
The existing top four global reinsurers, Munich Re,Swiss Re,Hannover Re(with a global premium of $25.30 billion), SCOR SE($18.29 billion) have maintained their existing positions in a descending order. Lloyd’s of London, the largest global reinsurance market, has retained its sixth position in the list.