Top 10 Insurance Brokers, No. 1 Marsh McLennan

 

• Martin South had revenue of $22.66 billion in 2022, an increase of 4.1%.

The purchase of HMS Insurance Associates Inc., a top 100 brokerage with annual sales of over $50 million, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland, was one of the transactions from the previous year. 

Last year, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. exceeded $20 billion in sales, saw 9% organic growth, and persisted in pursuing acquisitions to strengthen its middle-market and global operations.

In Business Insurance's ranking of the biggest brokerages worldwide, Marsh McLennan maintained its top spot with the help of the mergers, increasing its brokerage revenue to $20.66 billion in 2022, a 4.1% increase over 2021.

The brokerage also restructured itself internally, consolidating real estate, workforce, and technology. In addition, John Doyle, the predecessor, of Marsh LLC’s president and CEO, became Marsh McLennan’s president and CEO on January 1, 2023. 

Although there was a drop in total insurance sector mergers and acquisitions activity last year, Marsh McLennan stayed put on its acquisition strategy. According to SEC documents, 2022 saw the closure of 20 acquisitions, the majority of which were made by Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, its middle-market unit.

Experts state that while 2021's double-digit sales growth was outperformed by last year's, it was yet "steady" overall.

Martin is a highly accomplished and talented executive who's consistently produced results in important Marsh leadership roles around the world, says Peter Zaffino, CEO of Marsh and Chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies' Risk and Insurance Services, expressing his delight at South's appointment to the company's North American business.

Marsh will release a version of ChatGPT within the business's firewalls later this year, according to Mr. South. The company has made progress in employing artificial intelligence for data extraction and policy comparisons. "I don't think it's at a stage where the accuracy is to be relied upon," he said, adding that there are other trial projects underway.

Mr. South confirmed that Marsh McLennan continues to hire at a comparable pace despite having hired more than ten thousand workers in the last two years, including more than 6,000 employees at Marsh.

The decline in mergers and acquisitions activity within the insurance sector in the previous year did not deter Marsh McLennan from pursuing its long-standing acquisition strategy. In 2022, the company finalized 20 acquisitions, with a significant portion of them being completed through Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, its middle-market unit, as outlined in SEC filings.

whereas the credit experts, construction, and cyber industries have all seen tremendous growth, Mr. South noted that Marsh's representations and warranties and transactional risk business have slowed as a result of rising interest rates and inflation as well as the retreat in the capital markets.

Mark Dwelle, director of insurance equities research at RBC Capital Markets LLC in Richmond, Virginia, stated that Marsh McLennan is modifying costs to anticipate a slower pricing environment should the economy deteriorate. In Mr. Dwelle's opinion, it's essentially just routine housework.