Allianz SE, China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. are the three largest life insurance companies in the world, according to a ranking by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The largest number of companies on the top 50 global life insurers list ranked by life and accident & health reserves or liabilities hailed from Europe, with 21 spots. The UK hosted the most insurers for an individual European country, with seven carriers having operations based there.
Life insurers based in Asia-Pacific occupied 17 spots on the list of top global life insurers, making it the geographic region hosting the second-highest number of companies. Japan and mainland China tied for the top spot in Asia, with five each.
North America took 12 spots on the list with nine companies based in the US, two in Canada and one in Bermuda. On an individual country basis, the US has the largest number of life insurers on the top global 50 list, with nine.
MetLife Inc. is the biggest life insurance company headquartered in the US, followed by Prudential Financial Inc. MetLife ranked seventh on the list of the largest global life insurers and Prudential took the ninth spot.
Companies are ranked by 2023 life and accident & health reserves or insurance contract liabilities. Life and accident & health reserves generally represent a liability to provide for future commitments under outstanding policies. The exact components of reserves may vary based on the specific accounting regime followed by the companies listed.
Reserves or liabilities shown have been converted to US dollars at the average exchange rate for each respective fiscal year. Analysis is a best-efforts basis limited to public insurance companies around the world and non-public insurance companies in North America and Europe.
Technology evolution
A major trend that life insurers will contend with in future is the need to integrate technology and artificial intelligence into their business practices, experts say.
Puneet Kakar, a principal and leader of Monitor Deloitte's Financial Services Strategy practice, said in an interview that the use of digital data analytics and AI has been "transforming" the technology and operations of life insurance carriers, leading to a higher rate of growth of about 6% to 8% over the past five years.
Kakar said pressure is building on carriers, given customer and agent preferences combined with evolving demographics, to reduce their cost structure and offer a better experience with more products that cater to personal needs.
"They need to use AI and the modern technology to really build their technology and operational platform so they can deliver on those promises," Kakar said. "There's a lot of spend right now from carriers in order to do that transformation and that trend will continue in 2025."
Samantha Chow, global leader for the life insurance, annuities and benefits sector at Capgemini, said in an interview that life carriers are working through legacy technology constraints and trying to clean up "muddy data" so it can be better utilized.
Chow expects more use of generative AI to ingest documentation and complete standard operating procedures in service, claims and underwriting in 2025.
Japan expands reach
Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Co. announced plans Dec. 10 to acquire Bermuda-based Resolution Life Group Holdings Ltd. for $8.2 billion. The transaction was the largest insurance underwriter acquisition announced globally in 2024.
Nippon Life has also taken a 21.6% stake in Corebridge Financial Inc. valued at $3.8 billion. which was announced in May this year and completed Dec. 9.
Chow said the Japanese market is "ripe for transformation" and that Japanese insurers have been interested in how the US does business from an agent standpoint for several years.
"I think that we'll see some more expansion from some of our major Japanese life companies either acquiring or starting subsidiaries in other geographies, not just North America, but other geographies as well," Chow said.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. also made a significant move this year to expand its presence in the US life insurance market. Meiji Yasuda Life's US unit, StanCorp Financial Group Inc., said in August that it would acquire The Allstate Corp.'s employer voluntary benefits business, which includes American Heritage Life Insurance Co. for $2 billion.
Nippon Life is the sixth-largest life insurance company in the world, while Meiji Yasuda Life took the No. 22 spot in S&P Global Market Intelligence's annual ranking.