Insurer profitability hits record high despite fourth year of slowing premium growth – Aon

Profitability at major global insurers reached a record high in 2025, despite the sector seeing premium growth slow for the fourth consecutive year.

This is according to new research from broker Aon, which said the trend raises questions about the sustainability of insurers’ performances.

In a report titled From Strong Returns to Sustainable Advantage – What Insurers Should Do Next as Market Conditions Change, Aon said that 2025 saw firms post the highest return on average equity since reporting began, at 16.8%.

The sector also reported a strong overall underwriting performance, with its average combined operating ratio (COR) of 91.1% being the best recorded in the past 10 years.

Despite this, Aon found that growth is becoming harder for insurers to maintain, with 2025 marking the fourth consecutive year that premium growth has declined, now standing at 5.2% – markedly below the last 10 years’ average.

Clear tension

The report, which tracked the top 120 global property and casualty insurers since 2009, also said that the statistics highlighted a “clear tension” between significantly improved returns and slowing premium growth and warned insurers not to confuse “strong returns with sustainable growth”.

Aon suggested that the market cycle was beginning to diverge across the casualty, property and reinsurance sectors, adding that “future performance is likely to depend less on market momentum and more on strategic choices, disciplined execution and effective performance management”.

Paul Campbell, global growth officer for Aon’s strategy and technology group, said: “The hard market rewarded many different strategies. The next phase of the cycle will be less forgiving.

“The insurers that outperform are likely to be those that combine disciplined growth choices with relentless execution.”