A new analysis from Insuramore on the global commercial P&C non-life insurance carrier market has found that 145 insurer groups had gross direct written premiums (GDWP) in this category of more than $1bn in 2021.
The analysis also found that just over half of the top 200 groups recorded a double-digit increase in their commercial lines GDWP in that year, with ten achieving growth of more than 50%. Insuramore said that these competitors included Convex Group, Fidelis Insurance Holdings, RenaissanceRe, Trisura Group, and Intact Financial Corporation.
Insuramore said in a statement: “Overall, total worldwide GDPW in the commercial lines market seem highly likely to exceed $1tn in value for the first time in 2022. Growth is occurring because of several factors including a buoyant commercial specialty market (particularly in North America), rising premiums brought on by the increasing incidence of severe weather events (e.g. insurance for agricultural enterprises) and, of course, inflation. On the other hand, a deteriorating economic environment could subdue progress in standard commercial lines cover acquired by small and medium-sized businesses, in 2023 if not in 2022.”
The firm also said that another factor that may cause the global market value to move ahead less strongly in 2022 than might otherwise have been the case is the strength of the US dollar relative to most other major currencies. Many insurer groups reporting results in currencies other than US dollars and with little or no exposure to the US insurance market will slip down the global ranking as their GDPW will be worth less in US dollar terms when converted; in contrast, groups headquartered in the US and Bermuda, which accounted for 78 of the top 200 commercial lines competitors in 2021, are set to become more numerous in the next ranking.
Insuramore also found out that Allianz had the highest GDPW from commercial P&C insurance in 2021, followed by AXA, PICC, Zurich, and Chubb. Together, it said that these five largest groups had a combined global market share of commercial lines GDPW of 15.9% and the top 20 groups took a combined share of 41.6%. Of the top twenty groups, Insuramore said that these were the same in 2021 as they had been in the previous two years (albeit with some changes to their order) and that this combined share was scarcely changed from 2019, when it had been 41.9%, and 2020, at 41.5%.
