How we assess insurers

A

What we assess

Each company is assessed in four steps, from how it makes money to what the evidence implies. The same evidence standard applies at every step.

1. 01

   Establish the operating economics

   Principal questions

   • How does the company earn revenue, and on what accounting basis is it reported?
   • How profitable is its underwriting, and how much of its profit comes from fees, spread or investment income?
   • What is its business and geographic mix?

   Metrics

   • Scale and revenue: Insurance revenue (IFRS 17), gross written premiums, premiums written (US GAAP), each with its basis stated
   • Earnings: Net income attributable to shareholders; operating result as the company defines it
   • Underwriting: Combined ratio, with its definition (discounted or undiscounted, with or without reserve releases)
   • Life and retirement: Life operating result, new business value, contractual service margin
   • Returns: Return on equity as the company defines it

   Evidence required

   Annual and interim reports, results releases and investor presentations of the company itself.

2. 02

   Examine the balance sheet and capital

   Principal questions

   • What liabilities does the company carry, and how are its assets invested?
   • How strong is its capital position under its regulatory regime, and how much capital does it generate?
   • How has it deployed capital: dividends, buybacks, acquisitions, reinsurance and portfolio transfers?

   Metrics

   • Solvency and capital position: Solvency II ratio, Swiss Solvency Test ratio, US risk-based capital
   • Investment portfolio: Total investments and allocation by asset class, with the valuation basis stated (market value or IFRS carrying value)
   • Capital generation: Cash remittances to the holding company, operating capital generation
   • Capital deployment: Dividend per share, share buybacks, acquisitions
   • Insurance platform: Insurance earnings and new business volumes; insurance liabilities, insurer investment assets, AUM from owned or affiliated insurers, third-party insurance AUM, ownership

   Evidence required

   Financial statements, solvency and financial condition reports, and official transaction announcements.

3. 03

   Compare and interpret the business model

   Principal questions

   • Which measures can be compared with peers, and which are the company's own?
   • Where does its model differ from comparable companies, and what is changing?

   Evidence required

   The figures in steps 1 and 2, compared only where definitions, accounting bases and regulatory regimes match.

4. 04

   Assess the implications

   Principal questions

   • What does the evidence suggest about the company's position and the drivers of its value creation?
   • What is uncertain, what evidence points the other way, and what deserves attention next?

   Evidence required

   The compiled evidence, interpreted in each profile's Investor View and labelled as inference or thesis.

B

How assessments are made

Periods

A full year is compared only with the prior full year, and a first half only with the prior first half. Half-year and full-year figures are never compared with each other. Point-in-time measures, such as solvency ratios, carry the date they refer to and are compared only with other point-in-time values.

Changes

Changes are calculated from the two values shown. Ratios change in percentage points, never as a percentage of a percentage. A percentage change is not calculated across a loss or a zero value, because it would not be meaningful.

Definitions and bases

Every metric carries the company's own label, a plain definition, its unit and its accounting or regulatory basis. Measures on different bases, such as IFRS 17 insurance revenue and gross written premiums, or Swiss Solvency Test and Solvency II ratios, are not treated as the same measure.

Missing data

Where a period or figure is not available, the profile shows the latest available period and states the gap. Missing reported figures are never estimated, interpolated or filled from other sources.

Estimates and calculations

A calculated figure must state its formula and an estimate must state its basis, or the site will not build. No profile currently contains an estimate.

From figures to interpretation

Interpretation is confined to the Investor View at the end of each profile. It must name drivers, principal uncertainties, material counter-evidence and what to watch, and it is labelled as inference (following from the figures and sources) or thesis (a broader proposition that can be challenged). Common recommendation phrases, such as buy, sell or hold ratings, price targets and overweight or underweight calls, fail the build in every kind of content; the check is a fixed list of phrases, not a substitute for editorial review.

Asset managers with insurance activities

Insurance liabilities, insurer investment assets, general-account assets, assets managed for owned or affiliated insurers, third-party insurance AUM, insurance earnings and ownership interests are different measures. Each figure states which it is, and they are never added together or compared with each other.

Metric groups by business model

There is no single scorecard. A profile uses only the groups that apply to the company's business model; the site will not build if a metric is placed in a group that does not apply.

C

Evidence standards

Reported fact

Directly supported by a cited source, with the period and, for figures, the page or table.

WhereEvery figure marked Reported; the reported facts of each signal.

Calculated metric

Derived from reported values using a documented formula.

WhereYear-on-year changes and composition shares, which are calculated from the values shown.

Estimate

An approximate value with a stated basis. Never used to fill a gap in reported figures.

WhereNone at present.

Inference

An interpretation that follows from the available evidence.

WhereInvestor Views labelled inference; signal interpretations marked Supported.

Thesis

A broader analytical proposition that may rest on several pieces of evidence and can be challenged.

WhereAnalytical subjects in the Industry Pulse; signal interpretations marked Hypothesis; Investor Views labelled thesis.

Figure basis labels in use: Reported (printed in the cited source.); Calculated (derived from reported values with the stated formula.); Estimate (approximate, with a stated basis.)

D

Where signals come from

Primary sources cited today

Generated from the sources the published content actually cites. A media report may prompt research, but no signal relies on one for a material claim, and no trade or specialist publication is currently cited.

17 publishers cited by signals; 21 across all content.

E

Updates and corrections

Company profiles and financial periods

Figures are compiled with AI assistance from each company's reports, and each is checked against the cited page. Each profile states the date it was compiled and the latest full-year and half-year periods available then. Quantitative profiles exist so far for Zurich, Apollo, KKR, Brookfield. Target cadence, not yet in regular operation: a quarterly review, and a review after material results or announcements. These are targets, not commitments. Nothing updates automatically.

Material changes

A material development is recorded as a signal with its own date. Where an earlier development moves materially, the signal records the later development and its date alongside the original.

Corrections

Errors are corrected in the record itself. A public corrections log has not yet been established.

Reporting an issue or suggesting a source

A channel for reporting factual issues and suggesting sources has not yet been set up. It will be added before the platform launches.

See also questions about the platform.