America’s 15 top life insurance companies generated over $265 billion in sales during 2008.
Many consumers feel more secure buying insurance from well-established financial institutions with robust revenues. But there are other factors that prospective clients want to know before they commit to buying life insurance.
Prudent consumers also look at the life insurance provider’s profitability and financial strength. These statistics help consumers to evaluate whether the financial institution will survive to pay death claims at some future date.
The lists below help consumers to gauge the revenues, profitability and financial strength for some of America’s leading life insurance companies.
US Life Insurance Companies with Highest Sales
Among the top 15 life insurers, 4 have their headquarters in New York City and account for almost half of overall revenues. Only 5 of the biggest life insurance companies generated an increase in sales in 2008 over the prior year.
- MetLife (headquarters in New York City) … US$55.1 billion (up 3.6% from 2007)
- New York Life (New York City) … $31.4 billion (up 7.3%)
- TIAA-CREF (New York City) … $29.4 billion (up 6.7%)
- Prudential Financial (Newark, New Jersey) … $29.3 billion (down 14.9%)
- Northwestern Mutual (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) … $21.7 billion (down 3.8%)
- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance (Springfield, Massachusetts) … $18.7 billion (down 25.8%)
- AFLAC (Columbus, Georgia) … $16.6 billion (up 7.5%)
- Unum Group (Chattanooga, Tennessee) … $10 billion (down 5.5%)
- Genworth Financial (Richmond, Virginia) … $9.95 billion (down 13.1%)
- Principal Financial (Des Moines, Iowa) … $9.94 billion (down 8.9%)
- Lincoln National (Radnor, Pennsylvania) … $9.91 billion (down 7.8%)
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (New York City) … $9.7 billion (down 3.9%)
- Western and Southern Financial Group (Cincinnati, Ohio) … $5.4 billion (up 12.1%)
- Mutual of Omaha Insurance (Omaha, Nebraska) … $4.3 billion (down 0.6%)
- Conseco (Carmel, Indiana) … $4.2 billion (down 8.3%).
Profit Leaders in US Life Insurance
Just 8 of America’s 15 biggest life insurance companies earned a profit in 2008. Even more troubling is the fact that only one of these gargantuan financial institutions grew their annual profits from 2008, while the 7 other insurers suffered steep double-digit declines.
- MetLife … US$3.2 billion (down 25.7% from 2007)
- AFLAC … $1.25 billion (down 23.3%)
- Unum Group … $553.2 million (down 18.6%)
- Northwestern Mutual … $483.2 million (down 51.7%)
- Principal Financial … $458.1 million (down 46.8%)
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America … $409.1 million (up 5.8%)
- Western and Southern Financial Group … $109.1 million (down 69.3%)
- Lincoln National … $57 million (down 95.3%).
Life Insurance Loss Leaders
Led by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), 3 of the largest life insurance companies lost more than $1 billion while 2 other big insurers lost close to $1 billion in 2008.
- TIAA-CREF … -$3.3 billion (down 332.5%)
- Conseco (Carmel, Indiana) … -$1.13 billion (not available)
- Prudential Financial … -$1.07 billion (down 129%)
- New York Life … -$949.7 million (down 183.2%)
- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance … -$923.8 million (down 228%)
- Genworth Financial … -$572 million (down 146.9%)
- Mutual of Omaha Insurance … -$58.2 million (down 141.3%).
Financial Strength Ratings for Life Insurance Companies
Standard & Poor’s provides an objective assessment of an insurance company’s credit rating and financial strength. S&P scores range from AAA+ (highest) to C- (lowest) or D (company in reorganization).
The following list shows the financial strength rating for the 15 largest US life insurance operations.
- New York Life … AAA
- TIAA-CREF… AAA
- Prudential Financial … AA-
- Western and Southern Financial Group … AA-
- Mutual of Omaha Insurance … AA-
- Northwestern Mutual … AAA
- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance … AA+
- Guardian Life Insurance Company of America … AA+
- AFLAC … AA-
- Lincoln National … AA-
- MetLife … A+
- Unum Group … A-
- Principal Financial … BBB+
- Genworth Financial … BBB
- Conseco … BBB-
America’s biggest life insurance company, MetLife, was at the top of the list of revenues for 2008 but lags in the S&P financial ratings. This is due to the poor performance of equity markets last year. And while TIAA-CREF lost a whopping $3.3 billion in 2008, that life insurance company still maintains a top financial strength rating from S&P.
After reviewing the latest revenues, profitability and financial strength scores for a life insurance company, informed consumers are in a much better position to compare competitive life insurance premium quotes.
Sources
This article provides independent calculations and insights based on data from the Fortune 500 ranking of America’s largest corporations for 2008 and Standard & Poor’s credit ratings.
See also Term Life Insurance Rates by Major US City.
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