Berkshire tops Allianz as largest insurer by assets: AM Best

Previously, Allianz held the top position by nonbanking assets for five consecutive years.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has overtaken Allianz SE to become the world’s largest insurance company by nonbanking assets, according to AM Best’s latest global rankings. 

Berkshire reported nonbanking assets of $1.15t, moving ahead of Allianz, which slipped to second place despite growing its assets by 6.2% to $1.09t.

AM Best published the rankings in the January 2026 issue of *Best’s Review*, based on BestLink data and additional research.

Allianz had held the top position by nonbanking assets for five consecutive years prior to the latest ranking.

The rest of the top five insurers by nonbanking assets remained unchanged from the previous year. China Life Insurance (Group) Co. ranked third, followed by Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. and Prudential Financial Inc. in fourth and fifth place, respectively. 

AM Best noted that several large Chinese insurers continued to post asset growth, although this was partly offset by a 3.2% depreciation of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar in 2024.

In the separate ranking by net premiums written (NPW), UnitedHealth Group Inc. retained its position as the world’s largest insurer for the 11th straight year. 

UnitedHealth’s NPW rose by 6.2% in 2024 to $308.8b.

Health insurers continued to dominate the NPW rankings, with four of the top five insurers being US-based health companies.

Centene Corp., Elevance Health Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Group held on to their second, third and fourth places, respectively. 

State Farm Group entered the top five after recording the fastest NPW growth amongst the top 10 insurers, with premiums rising by 16.4% to $114.47b.

By nonbanking assets, the top 10 global insurers in 2024 were Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Allianz SE, China Life Insurance (Group) Co., Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., Prudential Financial Inc., Legal & General Group Plc, AXA S.A., Manulife Financial Corp., MetLife Inc. and Life Insurance Corporation of India.

By NPW, the top 10 global insurers were UnitedHealth Group Inc., Centene Corp., Elevance Health Inc., Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Group, State Farm Group, Humana Inc., China Life Insurance (Group) Co., Allianz SE, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and AXA S.A.