According to global rankings updated recently by Insuramore, and across life/annuity, health and P&C (non-life) business combined, 638 insurer (i.e. carrier / underwriter) groups worldwide were “insurer billionaires” in 2022 having achieved gross direct premiums for the year of more than USD 1 billion.
Over a billion in GWP? That sounds tasty, almost Gordon Gecko 80s style profit levels. But does it matter that companies are making huge percentage increases year-on-year during a time of economic hardship for many millions of people? The short is answer is no. History proves that the majority of people accept the inherently unfair share out of material wealth.
That said, the news that 600 insurance brands are posting $1bn plus GWP figures could spark some complaints of course.
There could be calls for windfall taxes perhaps, or new rules and laws for regulators to cap profits, especially where a handful of big names dominate a local market segment.
But IE believes that the industry can separate profits from GWP, which is really turnover. It’s also worth noting Solvency regulation requires a financial buffer in case of large claims or a ‘black swan’ event.
Meanwhile, here are some thoughts from Insuramore;
Broken down by segment, there were 304 such insurer billionaires for life/annuity business, 220 for health insurance and 275 for P&C insurance.
With regards to the latter segment, 158 insurer groups exceeded USD 1 billion in gross direct premiums for commercial P&C lines, 153 for private P&C lines, 119 for auto (motor) insurance and 48 for home insurance.
Note that these numbers sum to more than the 638 insurer billionaires across all classes because some groups achieved more than USD 1 billion in gross direct premiums in more than one segment. Moreover, if reinsurance assumed is added to the calculation, the number of insurer billionaires in 2022 rises by a further 20 to 658.
32 groups became insurer billionaires during 2022 having been below the threshold of USD 1 billion in gross direct activity in 2021. As examples, these included the following:
• fast-growing commercial P&C insurers such as Atrium Underwriting Group, Kinsale Capital Group and Skyward Specialty;
• reinsurers expanding rapidly into direct business such as RenaissanceRe and SiriusPoint;
• insurer groups based in countries characterised by strong underlying market growth such as Seguros Bolívar, State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan and Wafa Assurance.
HEALTH SECTOR GROWTH
Health insurance specialist UnitedHealth Group extended its position as the world’s largest insurer group in 2022 and had gross direct premiums of about 80% more than Allianz, the group ranked second on this measure. However, these were the only two groups with a market share of total worldwide insurance activity of more than 2%. Overall, and within a global insurance market worth around USD 7 trillion in gross direct business in 2022, the top 20 insurer groups accounted for 28.3% of this activity, the top 100 for 60.6% of it and the top 500 for 90% of it.
For most insurer groups launched in more recent years, including ones considered to be at the forefront of insurtech innovation, there is still a long road to travel before they can take their place among the insurer billionaires. However, while still loss-making as at mid-2023, one obvious exception is US-based Oscar Health whose rapid growth had pushed it to 200th position in the overall global ranking for 2022 (and to 54th specifically for health insurance).
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