Keeping the promise.Behind the sale of each insurance policy is a promise: today's payment secures protection against a future loss that may otherwise be financially disastrous. To fulfill ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. that promise, insurers engage in underwriting Underwriting 1. The process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt). 2. The process of issuing insurance policies. , the practice of looking at the likely frequency and severity of claims from prospective customers. Underwriting determines the quality of the risk and how much to charge for covering it. Successful insurers collect enough premium to pay claims without exhausting their resources. They invest those premiums prudently pru·dent adj. 1. Wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense. 2. Careful in regard to one's own interests; provident. 3. Careful about one's conduct; circumspect. to earn returns that bolster This article is about the pillow called a bolster. For other meanings of the word "bolster", see bolster (disambiguation). A bolster (etymology: Middle English, derived from Old English, and before that the Germanic word bulgstraz their financial strength and reward their stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. . Beyond the premium, they may collect additional fees for services such as financial advice and investment management.
Top 100 Globally Traded Insurance Stocks
Ranked by market capitalization (billions of U.S. dollars) as
of year-end 2004. Companies are listed with exchange and
ticker symbols.
$150.29 1. American International Group Inc NYSE: AIG
136.37 2. Berkshire Hathaway Inc NYSE: BRKA
59.17 3. ING Group N.V. Amsterdam: ING
58.51 4. UnitedHealth Group Inc NYSE: UNH
50.92 5. Credit Suisse Group VIRT-X (Pan-European): CSGN
46.11 6. Allianz AG Holding XETRA (Germany): ALVG
37.57 7. Manulife Financial Corp Toronto: MFC
37.30 8. Axa S.A. NYSE:AXA
37.23 9. Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. Milan: GASI
35.84 10. Allstate Corp NYSE: ALL
34.12 11. WellPoint Inc NYSE: WLP
28.52 12. Prudential Financial Inc NYSE: PRU
27.46 13. Aviva PLC London: AV
25.47 14. Millea Holdings Inc Tokyo: 8766
24.79 15. St Paul Travelers Cos Inc NYSE: STA
24.01 16. Zurich Financial Services AG VIRT-X (Pan-European): ZURN
22.97 17. Swiss Reinsurance Co VIRT-X (Pan-European): RUKN
22.77 18. Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG XETRA
(Germany): 5294121
20.52 19. Prudential PLC London: PRU
20.20 20. Aflac Inc NYSE: AFL
20.19 21. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc NYSE: HIG
19.99 22. Sun Life Financial Inc Toronto: SLF
19.16 23. Aetna Inc NYSE: AET
18.79 24. Aegon N.V. Amsterdam: AEGN
16.96 25. MetLife Inc NYSE: MET
16.23 26. Marsh & McLennan Cos NYSE: MMC
14.89 27. Progressive Corp NYSE: PGR
14.69 28. Chubb Corp NYSE: CB
13.73 29. Legal & General Group PLC London: LGEN
12.83 30. Principal Financial Group Inc NYSE: PFG
12.71 31. Cathay Financial Holding Co Ltd Taiwan: 2882
12.64 32. Mitsui Sumitomo Ins Co Ltd Tokyo: 8752
12.15 33. Ace Ltd NYSE: ACE
11.55 34. T&D Holdings Inc Tokyo: 8795
11.22 35. Cigna Corp NYSE: CI
10.77 36. XL Capital Ltd NYSE: XL
10.03 37. Sompo Japan Ins Inc Tokyo: 8755
9.06 38. MBIA Inc NYSE: MBI
8.96 39. Qbe Ins Group Ltd Australia: QBE
8.91 40. Ambac Financial Group Inc NYSE: ABK
8.81 41. Loews Corp NYSE: LTR
8.79 42. Old Mutual PLC London: OML
8.22 43. Lincoln National Corp NYSE: LNC
8.03 44. Insurance Australia Group Ltd Australia: AIG
7.34 45. Fidelity National Financial Inc NYSE: FNF
7.27 46. Safeco Corp NASDAQ NMS: SAFC
7.09 47. Jefferson-Pilot Corp NYSE: JP
6.95 48. Cincinnati Financial Corp NASDAQ NMS: CINF
6.79 49. MGIC Investment Corp NYSE: MTG
6.74 50. RAS Riunione Adriatica di Sicurta S.p.A. Milan: RASI
6.27 51. Torchmark Corp NYSE: TMK
6.22 52. Aon Corp NYSE: AOC
6.09 53. Sampo Oyj Series A Helsinki: SAMAS
5.98 54. Alleanza Assicurazioni S.p.A. Milan: ALZI
5.94 55. Willis Group Holdings Ltd NYSE: WSH
5.79 56. Great-West Lifeco Inc Toronto: GWO
5.77 57. Sanlam Ltd Johannesburg: SLIM
5.75 58. Friends Provident PLC London: FP
5.60 59. NIPPONKOA Ins Co Ltd Tokyo: 8754
5.32 60. UnumProvident Corp NYSE: UNM
5.11 61. White Mountains Ins Group Ltd NYSE: WTM
5.10 62. Skandia Forsakrings AB Stockholm: SDIA
5.05 63. Irish Life & Permanent PLC London: IPM
5.03 64. Everest Re Group Ltd NYSE: RE
5.00 65. AGE Assurances Paris: AGFP
4.94 66. Radian Group Inc NYSE: RDN
4.86 67. PacifiCare Health Systems Inc NYSE: PHS
4.73 68. Humana Inc NYSE: HUM
4.49 69. Promina Group Ltd Australia: PMN
4.42 70. Swiss Life Holding VIRT-X (Pan-European): SLHN
4.33 71. Old Republic International Corp NYSE: ORI
4.30 72. Royal & Sun Alliance Ins Group PLC London: RSA
4.01 73. PMI Group Inc NYSE: PMI
3.96 74. Genworth Financial Inc NYSE: GNW
3.94 75. Coventry Health Care Inc NYSE: CVH
3.91 76. Axis Capital Holdings Ltd NYSE: AXS
3.70 77. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd NYSE: RNR
3.44 78. W.R. Berkley Corp NYSE: BER
3.33 79. Markel Corp NYSE: MKL
3.33 80. Samsung Fire & Marine Ins Co Korea: 810,815
3.29 81. PartnerRe Ltd NYSE: PRE
3.23 82. Health Net Inc NYSE: HNT
3.20 83. Leucadia National Corp NYSE: LUK
3.01 84. Conseco Inc NYSE: CNO
2.99 85. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co NYSE: AJG
2.90 86. Axa Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd Australia: AXA
2.81 87. Assurant Inc NYSE: AIZ
2.75 88. First American Corp NYSE: FAF
2.74 89. Protective Life Corp NYSE: PL
2.63 90. HHG PLC London: HHG
2.59 91. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd Toronto: FFH-SV
2.58 92. CNP Assurances Paris: CNPP
2.55 93. Baloise-Holding AG VIRT-X (Pan-European): BALN
2.44 94. Brown & Brown Inc NYSE: BRO
2.34 95. StanCorp Financial Group Inc NYSE: SFG
2.30 96. Hannover Rueckversicherungs AG XETRA (Germany): HNRGn
2.27 97. Storebrand ASA Oslo: STB
2.25 98. Aioi Ins Co Ltd Tokyo: 68761
2.19 99. Cattolica Assicurazioni S.p.A. Milan: CASS
2.16 100. Nationwide Financial Services Inc NYSE: NFS
A.M. Best's Property/Casualty Insurer An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. Stock Index vs. Dow Jones Industrial Average Dow Jones Industrial Average The best known U.S. index of stocks. A price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks, primarily industrials including stocks that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. A.M. Best began compiling com·pile tr.v. com·piled, com·pil·ing, com·piles 1. To gather into a single book. 2. To put together or compose from materials gathered from several sources: and publishing a stock index on property/casualty insurance companies in 1933 (the market's nadir following the 1929 crash). As shown here, the current index is set at March 1942 = 100.00, the same month the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9953 AM. Best's Property/Casualty Insurance Stock Index outperformed the Dow (Direct OverWrite) See magneto-optic disk. by 3.9 fold from March 1942 through year end 2004. The AMB-P/C index gained 42,242% over nearly 63 years, compared with the Dow's 10,834%. The difference is a compounded annual growth rate of 10.1% for the AMB-P/C Index vs. 7.8% on the Dow. Year to-year growth in the two indexes had a correlation correlation In statistics, the degree of association between two random variables. The correlation between the graphs of two data sets is the degree to which they resemble each other. of 630%, meaning annual growth moved together for both series 63.0% of the time. In contrast, A.M Best's P/C Index had a 72.3% correlation with the Life/Health Index. (Quarterly, quarter ended Dec 31, 1933, to Dec 31. 2004) [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Source: A.M. Best Company A.M. Best's Life Insurer Stock Index vs. Dow Jones Industrial Average A.M. Best began compiling and publishing a stock index on life/health insurance companies in 1941 As shown here, the current index is set at March 1942 = 100.00, the same month the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 99.53. A.M. Best's Life/Health Insurance Stock Index outperformed the Dow by 6.7 fold from March 1942 through year end 2004. The AMB-L/H Index gained 72,752% over nearly 63 years, compared with the DJIA's 10,834%. The difference is a compounded annual growth rate of 11.1% for the AMB-L/H Index vs.7.8% on the DJIA DJIA See Dow Jones Industrial Averager (DJIA). . Year-to-year growth in the two indexes had a correlation of 63.6%, meaning annual growth moved together for both series 63.6% of the time. In contrast. AMB-L/H Index had a 72.3% correlation with the AMB-P/C Index. (Quarterly, quarter ended March 31, 1941, to Dec 31,2004) [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Source: A.M. Best Company U.S. Life Insurers--Credit Instruments As a Percentage of Total Financial Assets Financial assets Claims on real assets. Based on Federal Reserve's flow of funds Includes separate account assets (1945-2004). Policy Loans 2.6% Mortgages 6.8% U.S. Agencies 9.2% U.S. Treasuries 1.9% Open Market Paper 1.4% Corporate & Foreign Bonds 42.9% Municipals 0.7% Note: Table made from line graph. Source: Federal Reserve Board U.S. Insurer Stock Holdings As a Percentage of the Stock Market As reported in the Federal Reserve's flow-of-funds accounts. Includes separate account assets of life insurers (1945-2004). Life 1.2% Nonlife 7.6% Note: Table made from line graph. Source: Federal Reserve Board U.S. life/health insurer distribution of investment/noninvestment grade bonds Year end 1990 to 2002. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Source: Best's Insolvency insolvency Condition in which liabilities exceed assets so that creditors cannot be paid. It is a financial condition that often precedes bankruptcy. In the context of equity, insolvency is the inability to pay debts as they become due; insolvency under the balance-sheet Study, L/H, U.S. Insurers 1976-2002 |
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