The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies

ping-an
Ping An building in Shanghai; image via Shutterstock

For the better part of the last decade, the insurance sector was expanding rapidly. Between 2014 and 2018, 90 per cent of industry profits were derived from investment income1 alone. But even before the disruption of COVID-19 came into full swing, 2020 was shaping up to be a turbulent year for insurance. Low interest rates and stagnant growth were just two factors that posed a challenge for leading global players.

One year on from that, however, and the forecast isn’t all gloom: in many developing countries, a growing middle class means new opportunities for the insurance industry to thrive. And while optimism for 2021 growth needs to be tempered until we can accurately assess the full impact of the global pandemic, it’s worth noting that several of the companies listed below have been around since the 19th century – evidence of insurance’s staying power.

Here are the top ten insurance companies in the world through the end of the fiscal year 2020 as measured by total revenue.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Ping An building in Shanghai; image via Shutterstock

10. Ping An Insurance

Country of Origin: China

Total Revenue: $23.48 billion2

Number of Employees: 372,2003

Known fully as Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd., Ping An is a Chinese holding conglomerate with interests in insurance, banking, and financial services. Founded in 1988 and Shenzhen, Ping An is one of China’s largest insurers with US$23.48 billion in revenue in 2018. This makes Ping An a bit of an outlier in the list as they are one of the few companies who saw an increase over their 2019 revenue totals. This past year’s revenue is up 11.3 per cent over last year. Net profitability is up 2.3 per cent to just over $4.4 billion.

For its combined financial services operations, Ping An serves more than 200 million retail customers and 574 million Internet users as of mid-2019. The company takes a holistic approach to serve its customers with a corporate philosophy of one customer, multiple products, and one-stop services.

Ping An is listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges and ranked 7th on the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2020.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Nissay (Nippon Life) sign; image via Shutterstock

9. Nippon Life

Country of Origin: Japan

Total Revenue: $51.91 billion4

Number of Employees: 92,1225

Nippon Life is the largest Japanese insurance company and is yet another on our list with a history dating back to the 19th Century. Founded in 1889 and headquartered in Osaka, Japan, Nippon Life’s main product line includes general insurance, life insurance, and health insurance.

Nippon Life operates through a network of smaller companies comprised of 14 domestic insurance companies, seven overseas companies, 50 asset management companies, and 10 general affairs companies.

For the fiscal year ending March 2020, Nippon Life generated $51.91 billion in revenue and which was down 5.8 per cent from 2019’s total. Still, the company was able to generate a core operating profit of $6.33 billion.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Prudential plc sign; image via Shutterstock

8. Prudential plc

Country of Origin: U.K.

Total Assets: 55.97 billion6

Number of Employees: 23,000 (2021)7

Prudential plc is a U.K.-based, multi-national insurance and financial services company whose roots go back to the 19th century. The company was founded in London in 1848 where it remains headquartered today.

Prudential plc was originally founded to provide commercial and personal loans to its customer base however, its services have since expanded to include life insurance, investment management, and consumer finance. In 2020, that service combined to generate $55.97 billion in revenue.

Prudential plc owns Prudential Asia8 which conducts business in 14 markets in Asia, five countries (Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Nigeria) in Africa, and the United States.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Prudential Tower, Tokyo; image via Shutterstock

7. Prudential Financial

Country of Origin: USA

Revenue: $57.03 billion9

Number of Employees: 51,00010

The Prudential Insurance Company11 of America is another of the iconic players in the field and yet another whose founding goes back to the 1800s.  Founded in 1875 in Newark, New Jersey, Prudential is now one of the leading insurance companies offering comprehensive insurance and financial services including life insurance, mutual funds, retirement, annuity, and real estate.

Prudential’s business operations are broken down into the following divisions: PGIM, the U.S. Workplace Solutions Division, the U.S. Individual Solutions Division, the Assurance IQ Division, International Businesses, and the Corporate and Other operations.

Like many others on our list, 2020 was not a banner year for Prudential in terms of financial reporting. The company saw revenue decrease 12 per cent from $64.8 billion the previous year to just over $57 billion. This resulted in a $146 million loss in net income for the year.

Ten Largest Insurance Companies
By Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK – Legal and GeneralUploaded by oxyman, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11607220

6. Legal & General

Country of Origin: U.K.

Total revenue: $59.62 billion12

Number of Employees: 13,87613

One of the oldest companies on our list, Legal & General is a multi-faceted financial services company with roots tracing back to its founding in 1836 in London, England where it remains headquartered today. The company operates in the following segments: Legal & General Retirement (LGR); Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM); Legal & General Capital (LGC); and Legal & General Insurance (LGI).

The LGI division caters to UK retail protection, group protection, and network business. The combined operations for Legal & General earned $59.62 billion in revenue in 2020. That represents of drop in revenue of nearly 25 per cent from 2019.

In 2020, the company sold Legal & General Insurance to Allianz, one of our other entrants on this list.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Japan Post Group building; image via Shutterstock

5. Japan Post Insurance

Country of Origin: Japan

Total Revenue: $65.46 billion14

Number of Employees: 7,63815

Japan Post Insurance16 represents the newest company to make the top ten. Founded in October 2007 in Tokyo, Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd. was launched as the life insurance division within the Japan Post Group of companies. Each of the divisions within the group was created as its own company.

The Japan Post Insurance Company earned $65.46 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, through a combination of insurance premiums, outside investments, and other revenue. That figure marked an almost nine per cent drop from the previous year.

Ten Largest Insurance Companies
By Jnn13 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5859018

4. MetLife

Country of Origin: USA

Total Revenue: $67.84 billion17

Number of Employees: 48,00018

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company19, more commonly known as MetLife is one of the oldest and largest providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs. First launched in New York City in 1868, the company has since grown to serve more than 90 million customers in over 60 countries.

The MetLife group of companies offer life, accident, and health insurance, as well as retirement and savings products through agents, banks, brokers, and direct marketing channels. That combined effort drew in $67.84 billion in revenue in 2020, marking a three per cent drop from the previous year’s total of $69.62 billion.

MetLife’s seemingly ubiquitous presence in the global financial arena is underscored by the fact they serve 90 of the top 100 FORTUNE 500 companies in the United States.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Axa sign; image via Shutterstock

3. Axa

Country of Origin: France

Total Revenue: $112.4 billion20

Number of Employees: 160,00021

Axa S.A.22 is a French multinational insurance company that was founded in 1816 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

Axa offers customers a variety of global insurance, investment management, and other financial services.  It operates in 57 countries in Western Europe, North America, the India Pacific region, Africa, and the Middle East.

In 2020 Axa earned approximately $112.4 billion in revenue while total shareholders equity increased from 69.9 billion euros in 2019 to 71.6 billion in 2020.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Allianz building in Sydney, Australia; image via Shutterstock

2. Allianz

Country of Origin: Germany

Revenue: 165.98 billion23

Number of Employees: 142,46024

Founded in Munich Germany in 1890, Allianz25has gone on to become one of the world’s largest corporations in any sector. Today, it offers a variety of insurance and asset management services. Its commercial insurance products include global corporate customers, credit insurance, assistance services, and re-insurance.

Allianz provides insurance and fund products to 100 million customers in more than 70 countries around the world. The entire company’s 2020 global revenue was a staggering $165.98 billion which marks a slight decrease of 1.35 per cent from the previous year.

Allianz saw an operating profit of 10.8 billion euros and a net income of 6.8 billion euros.

The World’s Ten Largest Insurance Companies
Berkshire Hathaway Group logos; image via Shutterstock

1. Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Country of Origin: USA

Total Revenue: $245.51 billion

Number of Employees: 389,300

Topping our list is Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest and best-known, privately-owned firms in business today. The insurance industry has long been one of Berkshire Hathaway’s most important cornerstones. Through its various insurance companies, Berkshire Hathaway provides life, accident, and health reinsurers, as well as internationally based property and casualty reinsurers.

The main insurance companies in the Berkshire Hathaway tent are GEICO (acquired in 1996), Gen Re (1998), NRG (former Dutch-owned company acquired in 2007), and Berkshire Hathaway Assurance, a bond insurance company created in-house which issues municipal and state bonds.

Berkshire’s insurance companies are well known for maintaining very high levels of capital strength. This helped them generate $279.2 billion in revenue for the fiscal year 2020.

References

1https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_gl/topics/insurance/insurance-outlook-pdfs/ey-global-insurance-outlook.pdf

2https://group.pingan.com/dam/jcr:29db7075-d1a7-40c8-92fa-242eabf65be2/pingan-ar20-results-presentation.pdf (P.48 listed as 153,542 billion RMB)

3https://www.statista.com/statistics/284350/china-number-of-employees-at-ping-an-insurance/#:~:text=China%3A%20number%20of%20employees%20at%20Ping%20An%20Insurance%202019&text=The%20graph%20shows%20the%20number,service%20provider%20located%20in%20Shenzhen.

4https://www.nissay.co.jp/english/annual/pdf/2019/disc2019_P000_021.pdf

5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Life

6https://www.prudentialplc.com/~/media/Files/P/Prudential-V3/reports/2019/prudential-plc-ar-2019.pdf

7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudential_plc

8https://www.prudentialplc.com/about-us/where-we-operate/#asia

9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudential_Financial

10https://s22.q4cdn.com/600663696/files/doc_presentations/2021/Prudential-AR2020.pdf

11https://news.prudential.com/presskits/prudential-financial-fact-sheet.htm

12https://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/media/18405/lg-ar-2020_web-final.pdf

13https://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/media/18405/lg-ar-2020_web-final.pdf

14https://www.japanpost.jp/en/ir/library/earnings/pdf/200515_02.pdf

15https://www.jp-life.japanpost.jp/english/aboutus/financial/assets/pdf/2020/disc20_all.pdf

16https://www.jp-life.japanpost.jp/english/aboutus/company/en_abt_cmp_prf.html

17https://www.metlife.com/content/dam/metlifecom/us/homepage/about-us/newsroom/earnings-releases/Q4_2020_Earnings_News_Release.pdf

18https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetLife

19https://www.metlife.com/about-us/corporate-profile/global-locations

20https://www-axa-com.cdn.axa-contento-118412.eu/www-axa-com/fbfe7f4c-9769-48d0-a0ab-818b5957fb92_AXA_URD_2020_EN_b.pdf

21https://www.axa.com/en/about-us

22https://www.axa.com/en/about-us/key-figures#tab=social-data

23https://www.allianz.com/content/dam/onemarketing/azcom/Allianz_com/investor-relations/en/results-reports/annual-report/ar-2020/en-Allianz-Group-Annual-Report-2020.pdf

24https://fortune.com/global500/2019/allianz/

25https://www.allianz.com/en/about-us/who-we-are/at-a-glance.html

26https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2020ar/2020ar.pdf

27https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire_Hathaway#Insurance_group