Achieving the best.

Best's Review is proud to present our "Standing the Test of Time" series in this issue. Our cover story recognizes 55 property/casualty and 14 life/health companies that have maintained a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A or higher for 75 years. It also recognizes 55 property/casualty and 23 life/health writers who have maintained a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A or higher for 50 years. To identify the companies with the longest record of consistent financial strength, Best's analysts pored over its proprietary data to accumulate and verify ratings and other pertinent data dating back to 1905. The cover story also features mini-profiles of nine of these distinguished companies.

For another perspective on what all this means, I called the former President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and Director with the Bridge Strategy Group Ernie Csiszar for his opinion. He picked up on a "significant degree of commonality" among the nine featured companies. The similarities could be seen as the cornerstones to their success. "Some are small to midsize, which makes them flexible, and most are privately owned or mutuals," he said.

Csiszar also noted the companies are selling products that don't become obsolete, and they excel because they focus on their core competencies. Csiszar addressed the challenges the companies faced while maintaining the rating. The obvious ones are changing economic and political circumstances. And then there are the industry's hard and soft markets, which he attributes to "dumb competitors" The true test of these companies is their ability to maintain their success during the world's economic ups and downs as well as the insurance industry's own cycle, Csiszar said.

For the fourth year in a row, our July issue also contains our "Top Global Insurance Brokers" rankings. This year, however, there is a difference: Figures are based on 2008 brokerage revenue from the placement of primary insurance business only, using data provided by the companies. Reinsurance, wholesale business, managing general agent and other business revenues not directly related to the placement of primary insurance business were excluded.