Munich Re and Lloyd’s move to the top of AM Best’s global reinsurer rankings

Reinsurance giant Munich Re has reclaimed its spot at the top of AM Best’s ranking of the world’s largest reinsurers for companies that report under IFRS 17, while the specialist Lloyd’s marketplace has moved above Berkshire Hathaway to claim the top spot for non-IFRS 17 reinsurers, based on year-end 2025 figures.

It’s important to remember that rating agency AM Best ranks firms 1-16 that report under IFRS 17, based on gross reinsurance revenue, while companies that report under non-IFRS 17 are ranked 1-34 based on gross written reinsurance premium (GPW).

The agency highlighted that reinsurers’ underwriting performance remained strong in 2025, amid some material price softening.

AM Best also noted that the reinsurance industry managed to generate record levels of capital, driven by multiple years of strong profitability after rates hardened and terms and conditions became more favourable for reinsurers.

“Risk-adjusted rate reductions occurred during the more recent renewal cycles, as the market experienced tailwinds, with terms and conditions largely holding strong,” commented Dan Hofmeister, associate director, AM Best.

AM Best also flagged that the absence of significant hurricane activity across the United States in 2025 helped improve profitability, with no major hurricane making landfall in 2025.

However, the agency stressed that the reinsurance industry continued to experience the financial impact of severe convective storms in the United States, with loss estimates reaching as much as $61 billion.

After falling behind Swiss Re in 2024, Munich Re has now reclaimed the top spot based on 2025 figures, with gross reinsurance revenue of $35.418 billion despite a consolidated, pre-forex conversion decline of 3.7%.

Sitting behind Munich Re is Swiss Re, who reported a decline in gross reinsurance revenue of 4.5% to $34.564 billion, with declines seen in both non-life and life.

Importantly, AM Best explained that the Euros strength over the US Dollar enhanced Munich Re’s reinsurance revenue. Additionally, the agency indicated that had the previous year’s conversation rate been used, Swiss Re would have held on to the top spot.

For the remaining top five reinsurers reporting under IFRS 17, the rankings remained consistent with the previous year.

Sitting in third place for IFRS 17 reporters is Hannover Re with 2025 revenue of $31.513 billion, followed by French reinsurer SCOR with revenue of $18.902 billion, while China Re closes out the top five with revenue of $5.893 billion.

Closing out the top 10 is Generali who sits in sixth place, Canada Life Re in seventh, Korean Re in eighth, Sompo in ninth, and AXA XL in tenth.

Shifting attention to the non-IFRS 17 reporters, Lloyd’s took over the top spot from Berkshire Hathaway which according to AM Best, is due to a combination of different factors.

“First, the British Pound appreciated 7.4% against the US Dollar in 2025. When utilizing the prior year exchange rate, which was more favorable to the Dollar, Lloyd’s lagged Berkshire Hathaway’s gross premiums, by approximately USD 215 million,” the agency said.

“Additionally, Lloyd’s reinsurance growth significantly outpaced Berkshire Hathaway. Lloyd’s gross premiums grew by 7.1%, before the impact of foreign exchange rates. Berkshire Hathaway’s gross premiums contracted year- over-year by 7.9%, after contracting 2.1% between 2023 and 2024,” AM Best continued.

Furthermore, AM Best noted that the growth in Lloyd’s business was driven by increased underwriting activity among the syndicates, both through existing operations and new syndicates entering the market, with new volume more than outpacing rate declines.

“Reinsurance remained one of Lloyd’s stronger performing classes, benefiting from continued strong demand for catastrophe protection, favorable attachment points, and underwriting discipline. The syndicates’ strong performance in recent years continues to attract capital to the marketplace, with new entrants and capacity increases supporting the premium growth,” AM Best explained.

Overall, Lloyd’s sits in the top position of the table with life and non-life reinsurance GPW of $27.058 billion, followed by Berkshire Hathaway who sits in second place with life and non-life reinsurance GPW of $25.470 billion.

The remaining top five also remained consistent with the previous year, with Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) maintaining its third rank with GPW of $17.482 billion, while Everest held on to fourth place generating a GPW of $12.825 billion, and RenaissanceRe remained in fifth place with GPW of $11.738 billion.

Closing out the top 10 is Arch Capital, who came in sixth, PartnerRe in seventh, MS&AD in eighth, Mapfre Re in ninth, and GIC Re in tenth.

“AM Best expects the World’s Largest Reinsurers report to continue to evolve, as more large reinsurance players adopt IFRS 17, global market dynamics evolve, and existing players make strategic changes to find growth and profitability as the reinsurance market continues through the current cycle and navigates new and evolving perils. Additionally, AM Best anticipates continued normalization of underwriting performance from the exceptionally strong results reinsurers produced between 2023 and 2025, as the current rate trend remains uninterrupted,” AM Best concluded.

One point of note, is that while there’s no visibility of how third-party capital influences AM Best’s lists, there are a number of reinsurers that make heavy use of investor capital such as Everest, RenaissanceRe, and Arch Capital.

Another interesting factor to consider is that some of the largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) managers would feature within AM Best’s lists too.

A key example is how Nephila Capital’s reinsurer entities received $1.9 billion of gross premium just through their fronting relationship with Markel’s insurers in 2025, which heavily suggests that Nephila’s total premiums would be higher than this, given there will be direct and fully collateralized premiums written as well. That would see the ILS manager being featured in the list, on a premium basis.

Other ILS managers could also feature, if their premiums written were high enough, which no doubt they might be for some of the larger independents.

In addition, the role of third-party capital in helping to propel some of the ranked reinsurers higher up the list than they might be based on their own balance-sheet underwriting capacity is also worth considering, as some would fall back down the top-50 were it not for the investors backing their sidecars, funds and joint-venture vehicles.

See the top 10 reinsurance groups below and you can analyse the full list over at our sister site Reinsurance News:

You can also analyse the data on the top global reinsurance groups in the world over at our sister publication Reinsurance News, where a sortable ranking is maintained thanks to AM Best’s data