Marsh McLennan tops AM Best broker ranking for 15th straight year

By Ashish Tiwari

July 14 - (The Insurer) – Marsh McLennnan held onto the top spot in AM Best's annual ranking of the world's largest insurance brokers, ahead of Aon and Arthur J Gallagher in the second and third positions, respectively.

Marsh McLennan ranked first in AM Best's 2025 edition of Top Global Insurance Brokers, marking the 15th consecutive year it has led the ranking. The Marsh and Guy Carpenter parent reported $24.46 billion in revenue in 2024, ahead of Aon's $15.70 billion and Arthur J Gallagher's $11.30 billion.

The global broking landscape in 2024 was marked by high-value consolidation, including Aon’s $13 billion acquisition of NFP Corp and Arthur J Gallagher's $13.45 billion agreement to buy AssuredPartners.

WTW remains the fourth largest, reporting $9.93 billion in revenue.

Outside the top four, Alliant Insurance Services moved from eighth to fifth largest after generating $5.07 billion in revenue. The California-based broker grew through organic expansion and targeted acquitions, solidifying its presence across employee benefits.

Alliant's rise nudged Hub International and Brown & Brown down the list, both tied for sixth with $4.81 billion in revenue.

While still one of the fastest-growing brokers globally, Acrisure dropped to eighth with $4.59 billion.

London-based specialty broker Howden rose to 10th from 11th with $3.6 billion in revenue. The group has been expanding in Europe and Asia, while completing multiple acquisitions over the past 24 months.

Meanwhile, a number of well-known brokers dropped out of the top 20 due to acquisitions. NFP was excluded after its $13 billion acquisition by Aon in 2024.

ARDONAGH RISES

The Ardonagh Group rose the highest, moving to 13th from 17th. The UK broker completed the merger of its retail unit Atlanta with Markerstudy and took Australia’s PSC Insurance Group private in a $1.54 billion transaction. The firm reported $2.53 billion in revenue.

A standout trend in the year under review was fading boundaries between traditional retail, wholesale and specialty broking segments.

Brokers such as CRC Group expanded their reach across multiple distribution channels, while digital platforms such as OneDigital scaled in health and benefits advisory via organic and M&A fueled growth.

CRC Group entered the rankings at 15, following a rebrand from TIH after Truist Financial sold its remaining stake. With $2.46 billion in revenue, CRC becomes one of the largest wholesale brokers in North America.

Five firms appeared in the rankings for the first time.

BroadStreet Partners (16), Accession Risk Management Group (17), Alera Group (18), The Baldwin Group (19) and Digital Insurance (OneDigital) at 20. These relied on private equity-backed roll-up strategies, with BroadStreet closing 90 deals in 2024.

The rankings are based on total 2024 revenue and reflect the increasing role of scale, capital and regional expansion in defining competitive positioning.

The report highlighted global brokers’ expansion into emerging markets.

India is one such example, where firms such as Aon, WTW and Lockton made high-profile hires and acquisitions to build local presence and compete in the fast-growing commercial risk and health benefits markets.