Best’s News & Research Service - March 14, 2025 10:21 AM (EDT)
Best's Rankings: China Life Tops List of Largest Insurers in Asia-Pacific Region
OLDWICK, N.J. //BestWire// - China Life Insurance (Group) Co. was the largest insurer in the Asia-Pacific region in 2023 ranked by gross premiums written, according to a new Best's Rankings report.
China Life reported a market-leading GPW of $111.34 billion for the full year of 2023 and capital and surplus of $28.50 billion, according to the ranking.
Carriers in China, the world's second-most populous nation with more than 1.4 billion people, sat atop the list to take the top three spots out of the five-largest Asia-Pacific insurers.
Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd took the No. 2 position with a GPW of $75.88 billion, along with a capital and surplus of $173.84 billion, according to the data. In third place was People's Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. with a GPW of $71.28 billion and capital and surplus of $47.09 billion, according to the ranking.
Fourth-place Nippon Life Insurance Co. was the highest-ranked Japanese insurer, with GPW of $56.83 billion and capital and surplus of $68.76 billion, according to the ranking. Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc., another Japanese carrier, took fifth place with GPW of $49.75 billion and capital and surplus of $25.66 billion.
A September Best's Special Report said ratings upgrades exceeded downgrades for Asia-Pacific (re)insurers in 2023 and more than 80% of Asia-Pacific rating units have a Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio assessment of "Strongest." During the year, 10 new ratings were assigned and 10 were withdrawn, according to the report.
The report said the balance sheet assessments of (re)insurers operating in both mature and emerging market were generally clustered in the "Very Strong" category, with 49% and 54%, respectively. The report also found operating performance assessments for Asia-Pacific companies were concentrated in the "Adequate" and "Strong" categories.
AM Best found a similar distribution among market and emerging markets.
The one-page AM Best ranking measured gross premiums written for 2023, as well as capital and surplus.
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(By Terrence Dopp, senior associate editor, Best’s Review: Terry.Dopp@ambest.com)