Insurer retains most valuable brand three years running

Focus on customer relationships key to keeping brand valuable, says international consultancy firm

Insurance News

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Insurers Allianz and AXA maintained the top two positions as the world’s most valuable insurance brands, with Allianz taking the top spot for the third time running.
 
The valuation was published by international asset valuation consultancy, Brand Finance, as part of its Top 50 insurance brands for 2015. Interestingly, Allianz, valued at US$20.9bn, is also the only insurance company in Brand Finance’s Top 50 of all global companies at 43rd place.
 
Meanwhile, AXA, in second place, has partnered with the World Bank’s private investment arm in encouraging growth of insurance in developing countries, which helped increase international recognition of the brand.
 
China holds two spots in the top ten, as the domestic Chinese market seems to be very lucrative despite the slowdown of economic growth and devaluation of the yuan. Ping An, valued at US$11.5bn, is the most valuable Chinese insurer. It recently bought the Lloyd’s of London building as its first real estate purchase outside China. CPIC, ranked 13th, grew its brand value by 42% by investing in technology. An app allowed customers to make claims via smartphone and reduced new policy waiting time from seven days to 15 minutes.
 
Outside of the top ten, 12th placed Aviva was able to post a 34% growth in brand value via heavy brand promotion such as sponsoring the English Premiership Rugby, even when other insurers cut back on marketing expenses.
 
Netherlands-based insurers ING and Aegon are both big losers for 2015, posting -20% and -22% decreases, respectively.
 
Meanwhile, all three Canadian insurers in the Top 50 were in the lower half, but all posted positive growth rates. Manulife maintained its 33rd place finish from 2014 and grew its brand value by 11%. Sun Life improved two places from 43 to 41 by posting 21% growth, while John Hancock dropped five places from 45 to 50 despite posting 43% increase in brand value due to new entries in the Top 50.
 
Brand Finance concluded that insurance companies must focus on customer relationships to make and keep their brands valuable. Adapting to technology not only makes it more convenient for customers to access insurance services, it also improves data gathering and analytics, allowing insurance companies to know their clients better, and in turn, serve them better.
 
2015 Rank Insurer Domicile 2014 Rank Brand Value
% Change
1 Allianz Germany 1 3%
2 AXA France 2 2%
3 Generali Italy 3 -1%
4 Ping An China 5 24%
5 China Life China 4 -13%
6 Prudential UK 7 2%
7 Nippon Life Insurance Japan    
8 Zurich Switzerland 9 11%
9 Metlife USA 6 -13%
10 AIG USA 10 2%

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