As lots of people have come to know the importance of insuring their lives, business, car and many other things, the insurance business has been on a rapid growth and center of attraction. Every day, people are faced with risk, some of which are hardly predicted or controlled. Risks like an accident, falling sick, being the victim of a natural disaster or fire, and, above all, the risk of life.

Not only do these risks come with pain and suffering, they most times become the victims of economic and financial hurt. Therefore it becomes wisdom to insure most areas of your life that have greater risk exposure.

Getting insurance keeps you prepared against the worst situation and makes you risk proof to most unforeseen events. Insurance shifts the burden of bearing losses from unpredicted disasters from you to the insurance company.

The purpose of this article is to look at some of the world’s top insurance companies. There are many criteria on the basis of which such a list can be prepared: premium collections, revenue, profit, geographical area, assets, to mention a few.

Duties of Insurance

1. Insurance provides certainty of cover or backup for loss which was not planned for. The uncertainty of loss can be reduced by better planning and administration.

A saying goes that In all aspects of life, the only thing that is constant is change. There is uncertainty of events of time and amount of loss. Insurance removes the risky consequences of this uncertainties and the assured is given certainty of payment for loss.

The insurer charges the premium for providing this shield. An assurance that once there is an event causing loss you will be paid a sum to cover the loss.

2. Risk-Sharing.  Just as risk is uncertain, so is the loss arising from such risk. When risk takes place, the loss is shared by all the persons who are exposed to the risk. This is where insurance comes to place. Insurance absorbs the major part of the risk and holds the highest share of it.

The risk-sharing in ancient times was done only at the time of damage or death; but today, based on the probability of risk, (he share is obtained from every insured in the shape of premium without which protection is not guaranteed by the insurer.

3. It Provides Capital. The funds accumulated by insurance companies are invested into productive channels which as a result provides capital for the society.

The death of the capital of the society is minimized to a greater extent with the help of investment in insurance. The industry, the business, and the individual are benefited by the investment and loans of the insurers.

The top insurance companies include

AIA Group Ltd

Founded in 1919 in Singapore with currently headquartered in Hong Kong, AIA Group is the largest pan-Asian life insurance group, with a presence in 18 different markets including China, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Cambodia. It specializes in life insurance and other financial services.

As of Dec. 31, 2019, AIA wasddeclared to have de assets of $284 billion and a market cap of $126.2 billion as of February 5, 2020.

AIG

AIG, or American International Group, has offices which spreads across 80 different countries. The company, founded in Shanghai in 1919, is currently headquartered in New York City. It mainly operates in three segments including general insurance (commercial and personal insurance), life, and retirement, as well as a technology subsidiary called Blackboard Insurance.

AIG is one of the companies that received a bailout of $180 billion from the U.S. government following the 2007–2008 financial crisis. According to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, credit default swaps were sold without collateral, causing AIG to fail.

The company has since recovered, reporting $525 billion in assets, and a market cap of $45.2 billion.

AXA

AXA was founded in 1816 as a result of the merging of many insurance companies. AXA is one of the world’s leading insurance groups with over 102 million customers in 56 countries and more than 125,000 emoloyed. Its main businesses are property and casualty insurance, life insurance, savings, and asset management. It has its headquartered in Paris but has a presence across Africa, North America, Central, and South America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.

AXA acquired 51% of the insurance operations of Colpatria Seguros in Colombia in 2013. During the same year, it became the largest international insurer operating in China as a result of its 50% acquisition of Tian Ping (a Chinese property and casualty insurer). AXA also acquired the non-life insurance operations of HSBC in Mexico. The market cap for the AXA Group is currently around $67 billion.

China Life Insurance

China Life Insurance (LFC) is one of Mainland China’s largest state-owned insurance and financial services companies, as well as a key player in the Chinese capital market as an institutional investor.

The company was founded in 1949 when the People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC) was formed. Its offshoot PICC (Life) Co. Ltd was created after parting ways with PICC in 1996. PICC (Life) Co. Ltd was renamed as China Life Insurance Company in 1999.

The China Life Insurance Company went through restructuring in 2003 as China Life Insurance (Group) Company, which has seven subsidiaries. The businesses are spread across life insurance, pension plans, asset management, property and casualty, investment holdings, and overseas operations.

The company is open to the public on the New York Stock Exchange, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and is the biggest public life insurance company in terms of market capitalization in the world. The company boasts a market cap of $123.9 billion.

ING Group

Dutch multinational ING Group was founded in 1991. The company provides a range of services including retail, direct, commercial, and investment banking, insurance, and asset management. ING serves more than 37 million clients in over 40 different countries.

In 2018, ING announced a partnership with another member of this list—AXA. Together, the two have an exclusive, multi-country digital partnership to provide insurance products to clients online through a centralized platform. ING’s market cap is around $47.7 billion.

United Health Group

The UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is a very diversified health care businesses in the United States. It’s has two business platforms—UnitedHealthcare for health benefits and Optum for health services— which works together to serve over 115 million people in every U.S. state and 125 countries.

The UnitedHealth Group uses its experience and resources in clinical care to improve the performance of the health care services sector.The company’s market cap was $277.5 billion on February 5, 2020.

MetLife

MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, also known as MetLife, and its affiliates .

Serving more than 100 million customers in more than 50 countries, and a market cap of $47.4 billion and assets of $740.4 billion, MetLife is one of the world’s largest insurers and also provides services in employee benefits and annuities.

The company has affiliates and subsidiaries include MetLife Investors, MetLife Bank—which was sold to GE Capital in 2013—MetLife Investment Securities, Metropolitan Properties Ventures, and Casualty Insurance Company.

Redundancy Protection Insurance – For Job Holders’ Secured Future!

In order to uphold the interest of job goers, there are certain insurance policies evolved to safe guard their income. To be an employee calls for a lot of trouble as he may be laid off any time by the employer. What can he do in such a situation? He can’t do any thing but go bankrupt if he does not have enough savings to bank on. More over if he has already borrowed some secured loan amount for his child’s education or for house construction then he would be risking his collateral. To avert such a situation you must be prepared and get an insurance cover right away. Which is that protective cover that can save you in times of unemployment?

Redundancy protection insurance will help you when you are out of unemployment! With a mortgage to pay and kids going to school you must not take this risk. Instead get your self protected if you are the sole bread winner for the family. Things may get worse if your spouse isn’t working and you were to be laid off owing to your company facing economic crisis.

It is such a financial disaster, this is the only protective cover that can help you. The other tip for income security is to have a freelance job. When you are on full time employment you can be active online and continue to engage yourself in freelance jobs. This will help you find some solace when you are out of your full time employment with out any proper notice. You may be able to earn one-quarter of your annual income.

In case your employer has laid you off, you can bank on this free lance job. This will support you financially until you find another job.

How can redundancy protection cover help you?

Redundancy protection cover can pay your monthly earnings. It is usually 70% of your total income and may change depending on your pay scale. You can use it up to pay your mortgage, loan or any other bills.