Munich Re replaced Swiss Re as the largest reinsurer in AM Best’s annual ranking of the Top 50 Global Reinsurance groups in 2020, marking a return to a position that it last held in 2017.

Swiss Re held the top spot in the two previous years and has now dropped to the second position, based on AM Best’s analysis of reinsurance gross premiums written (GPW).

To achieve greater precision in its annual ranking of leading global reinsurers, AM Best said this year’s analysis included only year-end gross reinsurance premiums written, eliminating any primary premiums.

Prior rankings had included primary premium that was less than 25% of a reinsurers’ total premium volume. This change in analysis resulted in the change of Munich Re ranking, AM Best indicated. .

These two global reinsurers together account 25.6% of top 50 GPW in 2020, down slightly from their combined total of 27.7% in 2019, the ratings agency said.

According to AM Best, the top 10 reinsurers by GPW are: Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re, SCOR, Berkshire Hathaway, China Reinsurance (Group) Corp., Lloyd’s, Canada Life Reinsurance, Reinsurance Group of America, Korean Reinsurance Co.

The rankings appear in a new Best’s Market Segment Report, called “Global Reinsurance Outlook Remains Stable in a More Uncertain World.”

Source: AM Best

*This story ran previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.