Having the right insurance is a critical part of small business financial planning. It can provide much needed funds in case of a covered interruption to business. But what are the biggest brokerages selling policies today?
- Marsh & McLennan is the top brokerage by revenue by a long shot. With $7.5B in annual revenue, Marsh & McLennan is the only brokerage to top $5B.
- Three other companies generate more than $3B in annual revenue, including Aon ($4.7B), Willis Towers Watson ($4B) and Arthur J. Gallagher ($3.6B).
- The business insurance brokerage industry is dominated by several smaller players. 12 out of the top 25 companies make less than $1B in annual revenue.
- There is substantial volatility in revenues year-over-year, with several companies entering and leaving the top 25 from one year to the next.
We got the data for our visualization from an annual list of top 100 business insurance brokerages based on revenue from Business Insurance. We ranked the companies in order of their 2018 cash flow, the last year for which complete data was available. We then color-coded the exploding pie chart by revenue level, providing a clear snapshot of the biggest players in the business insurance brokerage industry.
Top 10 Largest Business Insurance Brokerages by Revenue (2018)
| Company | Brokerage Revenue ($) |
|---|---|
| 1. Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. | $7.5B |
| 2. Aon PLC | $4.7B |
| 3. Willis Towers Watson PLC | $4B |
| 4. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. | $3.6B |
| 5. BB&T Insurance Holdings Inc. | $2B |
| 6. Brown & Brown Inc. | $2B |
| 7. Hub International Ltd. | $1.7B |
| 8. USI Insurance Services LLC | $1.7B |
| 9. Alliant Insurance Services Inc. | $1.3B |
| 10. Acrisure LLC | $1.3B |
The first insight from our visual is just how top-heavy the business insurance market is. Marsh & McLennan clearly stands out as the largest company by annual revenue. With $7.5B in money coming in during 2018, Marsh & McLennan saw more money than all the companies in spots 11 to 25 combined. But there are a few other large, multi-billion dollar companies in the top 5, like Aon ($4.7B), Willis Towers Watson ($4B) and Arthur J. Gallagher ($3.6B).
So there are a handful or large companies at the top, but what about the other end of the spectrum? Further down the list, there are a lot of companies generating highly volatile revenue year-over-year. 12 companies in the top 25 have less than $1B in revenue. Looking further down the list from Business Insurance, 13 out of the top 50 companies saw less than $100M in annual revenue. This means that making a few key sales to large companies could dramatically improve any specific company’s place on the ranking.
And finally, a lot remains unknown about how the coronavirus pandemic will impact the business insurance industry, and which companies are going to make it through to the other side of the current economic recession. For example, one open issue is whether business insurance policies cover government-mandated closures due to the pandemic. We will see how the issue progresses through ongoing litigation, but the widespread economic downturn will surely impact revenue figures for 2020 and beyond.
If you have a small business and are looking for insurance, check out our collection of business insurance guides to learn more about the industry.
Data: Table 1.1