Aon, a professional services firm providing risk, retirement, and health solutions, emphasises that relevance is not a temporary trend in insurance — it is a disciplined approach that drives long-term success.
In today’s volatile market, insurers that embed strategic relevance into every decision are positioned to deliver profitable growth and outperform consistently across all phases of the market cycle.
According to Aon, high-performing insurers achieve this by anticipating market shifts, responding to evolving client expectations, and maintaining a clear focus on both profitability and strategic relevance.
As global risks grow and structural shifts accelerate, capital providers and clients increasingly expect insurers to deliver consistent returns while managing volatility effectively.
Aon’s research shows that those insurers who integrate relevance into every decision are best able to navigate uncertainty, seize emerging opportunities, and sustain leadership throughout the cycle.
The forces reshaping insurance in 2025 are intensifying. Aon notes that global reinsurance capacity has reached an estimated $720 billion, with catastrophe bond issuance hitting a record $17 billion in the first half of the year.
This demonstrates growing investor demand for non-correlated returns, but also heightens competition, compresses pricing power, and underscores the need for differentiation.
At the same time, geopolitical pressures including protectionism, civil unrest, and persistent inflation are creating challenges for underwriting assumptions and introducing additional volatility into claims environments.
Flat interest rates across major markets further limit insurers’ ability to offset underwriting gaps through investment strategies. While the market may appear to be softening, Aon emphasises that risk continues to grow, making strategic relevance more critical than ever.
Aon’s insights highlight that insurance clients themselves are evolving. Commercial buyers increasingly demand multi-year, multi-line solutions that integrate risk financing, reduce volatility, and generate enterprise value. Insurers are similarly adapting, seeking structures that are agile, transparent, and closely aligned with their clients’ strategic objectives.
Aon points out that insurers must shift from being mere product suppliers to performance partners, proactively anticipating client needs and delivering tailored solutions across geographies and sectors.
Legacy operating models, rigid capital structures, and siloed distribution strategies hold some insurers back, but those that evolve now and combine relevance with agility are best positioned to capture value through every phase of the market cycle.
Aon’s analysis of 120 insurers from 2013 to 2024 demonstrates a clear link between strategic focus and financial performance.
Their research shows that high-performing insurers consistently maintain profitability and growth even during periods of declining rating indexes, while insurers who neglect relevance often grow during soft phases but at the expense of underwriting profits.
Clients and distribution partners reward insurers that remain consistent throughout the cycle with stronger growth when rates increase. Aon’s review of recent trends shows that around 15% of insurers moved above or below the median performance level since 2023, with several carriers adopting strategies that significantly improved either returns or growth.
Looking at 2024 performance, Aon reports that the combined composite of the 120 insurers achieved a 14.7% return on average equity, a six-point improvement over the prior decade’s average of 8.7%. The combined operating ratio fell to 93.6%, the lowest of the past ten years.
Premiums grew 7.5% to $1.9 trillion, exceeding the average growth rate of the previous decade, despite a gradual deceleration from the highs of 2021.
Aon observes that property and casualty segments show notable variance in performance, with the most globally diversified and specialised insurers consistently achieving the lowest combined operating ratios and highest returns.
Aon has identified seven key traits that characterise top-performing insurers, providing a foundation for sustained growth and long-term resilience.
These traits encompass strategic clarity, disciplined capital management, data-driven decision-making, insight into distribution channels, talent transformation, and the consistent embedding of relevance into all aspects of business strategy.
Insurers that embrace these traits are not only able to weather market volatility but are also well-positioned to deliver long-term, profitable growth and exceed client expectations.
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