The list of Ward’s 50 top performing insurance companies was released by Ward Group, an operational consulting firm and leading provider of benchmarking and best practices services to the insurance industry.

Annually, Ward Group analyzes the financial performance of over 3,100 property-casualty insurance companies and over 800 life-health insurance companies domiciled in the United States and identifies the top performers in each segment. This group is called the Ward’s 50 for the year. Each Ward’s 50 company has passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed. The Ward’s 50 property-casualty group of insurance companies produced a 14.4% return on average equity from 2004 to 2008 compared to 9.9% for the property-casualty industry overall. The Ward’s 50 life-health group of insurance companies produced a 13.5% return on average equity from 2004 to 2008 compared to 6.4% for the life-health industry overall.

The past 18 months have been a volatile period for the insurance industry affecting companies in many different ways. “Volatility in the investment portfolios, economy and competitive landscape has forced companies to evaluate many of their business strategies,” explains Jeff Rieder, President of Ward Group. “In selecting the Ward’s 50, we identify companies that pass financial stability requirements and measure their ability to grow while maintaining strong capital positions and underwriting results.”