Swiss Re retains gross premium lead as Munich Re tops IFRS 17 ranking: AM Best

Munich Re has confirmed its position as the largest global reinsurer reporting under the new IFRS 17 standard, with Swiss Re retaining its lead in terms of gross reinsurance premiums written, according to a new ranking by AM Best.

The ratings agency’s annual ranking of top reinsurance groups for 2023 has been altered by the inconsistent implementation of IFRS 17 accounting standards across the industry.

Most notably, the adoption of IFRS 17 has created a lack of comparability with prior-year results, as the standard has shifted the traditional focus on premiums written and earned to insurance revenue, which gauges the amount an insurer has earned for service rendered.

In the 2023 ranking, companies reporting under IFRS 17 are ranked 1 to 15 based on gross reinsurance revenue, while companies that report under non-IFRS 17 are placed 1 to 35 based on gross written reinsurance premium.

Under this approach, Munich Re is the largest IFRS 17 reporting reinsurer with nearly $32.9bn in 2023 reinsurance revenue. Indicating the lack of comparability from its previous reporting method, this figure stood at $51.3bn in 2022 as this figure included global specialty insurance.

Munich Re was followed by Hannover Re, which reported gross reinsurance revenue of $27.0bn, up 4.9 percent over 2022, adjusted for exchange rate effects, with Scor in third place among IFRS 17 reporters with $17.6bn.

Swiss Re remains the largest non-IFRS 17 reporting reinsurer with $40.5bn in gross premium written (GPW) in 2023, with the 0.7 percent decline in non-life premium offset by 5.8 percent growth year on year in the life segment.

This was followed by Berkshire Hathaway– which saw 24 percent growth in GPW to $27.5bn – and Lloyd’s, where the depreciation of the pound against the dollar drove a 19.1 percent increase to $22.1bn.

“This year’s list of the top reinsurers looks different than it has in prior years, as the analysis has evolved to provide the most relevant rankings possible,” commented Carlos Wong-Fupuy, senior director at AM Best.

For the top 35 non-IFRS 17 companies, total reinsurance GPW rose by more than 6 percent during 2023. AM Best noted that this was primarily driven by strong rate increases rather than exposure growth as reinsurers grappled with “generational” hard market conditions.

AM Best noted significant growth for Everest Re, which placed sixth in the non-IFRS 17 ranking as gross premiums rose 23 percent to $12.3bn from $9.3bn in 2022.

RenaissanceRe displaced Everest in the overall ranking, largely attributable to its 33.9 percent growth, which included the impact of its acquisition of Validus Re. AM Best noted in last year’s report that if 2022 financial statements were consolidated for RenaissanceRe and Validus Re, then RenRe would have ranked higher than Everest.

The report also recognised strong growth for Convex, with gross premiums increasing by 48.6 percent year on year to $2.1bn. The Class of 2019 reinsurer was first included in AM Best’s top global reinsurers report last year.

New entrants to the 2023 ranking were Ascot Group and Ark Insurance, which placed 26th and 34th, respectively, in the non-IFRS ranking by GPW.

However, not all reinsurers reported growth during the hard market. Qianhai Re saw premium decline by 25.5 percent to $1.4bn owing to its strategic initiative to rebalance the life reinsurance portfolio.

In addition, SiriusPoint saw a decline of 16.5 percent in premium to $1.3bn from $1.5bn in 2022, while Markel’s gross premiums declined by 15 percent to $1.0bn.