Top 3 Chinese insurance brands forge ahead in brand value and brand strength; Ping An prevails as world’s most valuable insurance brand six years running while CPIC catches up in brand strength index score
Chinese brands Ping An (brand value up 4% to USD33.6 billion), China Life Insurance (brand value up 2% to USD17.5 billion) and CPIC (brand value up 1% to USD15.3 billion) defended their respective 1st, 3rd and 5th places among the most valuable insurance brands in this year’s rankings. Ping An also prevails as the world’s most valuable insurance brand six years running, since 2018. Meanwhile, Germany’s Allianz (brand value up 17% to USD24.6 billion) and France’s AXA (brand value up 4% to USD16.6 billion) retain their spots in 2nd and 4th place respectively to form the Top 5.
While the brand strengths of Allianz and AXA dipped marginally, with Brand Strength Index (BSI) score reductions of 0.6 points to 77.1 of 100 and 1.1 points to 75.7 of 100 respectively, the opposite can be said for their Chinese counterparts among the Top 5. Ping An’s BSI score rose 0.2 points to 82.4 of 100 and China Life Insurance’s BSI score gained 0.9 points to 85.9 of 100. Notably, CPIC’s BSI score showed the greatest improvement with a 2.4-point increase to 79.9 of 100. CPIC was also the only brand in the top 5 to see its brand strength rating increase from AA+ to AAA-, while Ping An and China Life Insurance retained their AAA- and AAA brand strength ratings respectively. Allianz and AXA kept their AA+ brand strength ratings as well.
Alex Haigh, Managing Director of Brand Finance Asia Pacific commented:
“The continued growth of Chinese insurance brands in the global market underscores their strategic agility and relentless pursuit of innovation while their European counterparts such as Allianz and AXA demonstrate remarkable adaptability through customer-centric strategies and digital transformations. Our research shows that these players are well poised for growth in an increasingly competitive landscape.”
Strongest brand positions head eastwards: APAC brands claim top 3 strongest led by LIC
Burgeoned by the region’s economic expansion and demographic shift, Asia-Pacific brands emerged the strongest among all insurance brands in the rankings. The strongest insurance brand in the world is LIC (brand value up 0.04% to USD9.8 billion), conserving its AAA brand strength rating along with a BSI score increase by 2.9 points to 88.3 of 100 followed by Cathay Life Insurance (brand value up 9% to USD4.9 billion) and NRMA Insurance (brand value up 82% to USD1.3 billion). All three brands posted improvements in their BSI scores. They succeed UnipolSai (brand value down 7% to USD2.7 billion) and Canada Life (brand value up 7% to $11.6 billion), which placed first and second respectively, in terms of brand strength, in 2023.
Cloudy with a glimmer of sunshine: strong premium forecasts driven by climate change and inflation create large pay offs in brand value growth for NRMA Insurance and Tryg
Due to volatile macroeconomic conditions marked by high inflation and climate change, insurance brands have responded have increased premiums and minimised involvement in markets vulnerable to global events. Such increasing of premiums has helped raise premium growth and forecasts, leading to brand value growths for over half – 74 of 100 – of the brands listed in this year’s rankings. Among the 74 brands that have seen their brand values grow from 2023’s rankings, Australia’s NRMA Insurance (brand value up 82% to USD1.3 billion) and Denmark’s Tryg (brand value up 66% to USD1.6 billion) posted the largest increases.
Germany’s Allianz clocks highest Sustainability Perceptions Value of USD3.7 billion
Brand Finance also compiles a Sustainability Perceptions Index which determines the role of sustainability in driving brand consideration across sectors. This Index displays the proportion of brand value attributable to sustainability perceptions, also known as Sustainability Perceptions Value (SPV). SPV is therefore the financial value contingent on a brand’s reputation for acting sustainably. From here, Brand Finance’s perceptual research is analysed alongside CSRHub’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance data to determine a brand’s ‘gap value’. This is the value at risk, or value to be gained, arising from the difference between sustainability perceptions and actual performance.
The latest iteration of the study finds that in the insurance sector, Allianz has the highest Sustainability Perceptions Value of USD3.7 billion and the highest positive gap value of USD299 million. Both Allianz’s perceptual and performance scores on sustainability were above the insurance sector’s average across all ESG dimensions. This not only demonstrates strong external awareness of Allianz’s sustainability efforts and communications, but that the brand’s actual performance and reporting on ESG issues supports this perception.
Allianz’s gap value implies that it has the potential to generate an additional USD299 million in value. A positive gap value means that brand sustainability performance is stronger than perceived: brands can add value through enhanced communication about their sustainability efforts, so that perceptions are raised to fully account for the brand’s actual sustainability performance.