Orange County’s largest insurance brokers as a group saw their revenue grow 10% in 2019, up from 12% in 2018.
They grew even as they reduced their local support staff, 2.8% to 1,718 employees.
Ranked insurance brokers reported their counts of property and casualty producers in OC fell again this year, seeing an 8.8% drop to 352. The number of P&C producers also dropped 2.1% in 2018. Benefit producers fell at a faster pace, 17% to 247.
The 22 biggest brokers with headquarters or significant operations here combined for more than $846 million worth of policies.
Fourteen reported revenue increases, including six that saw more than 10% growth. Four firms saw a decline.
The Business Journal ranked the largest insurance brokers in the county with a cutoff of $6 million.
The list also counts the number of licensed brokers, support staff and companywide offices, though those figures didn’t affect rankings.
Alliant Supreme
Top-ranked Alliant Insurance Services Inc. in Newport Beach maintained its top spot as the largest insurance broker based in Orange County, reporting local sales climbed 10% to $187.6 million.
The company has been expanding outside the county through organic and acquisitive growth.
Companywide, it posted two-year growth rate of 38% to $1.7 billion, ranking it No. 7 on the Business Journal’s annual list of the county’s fastest-growing companies with sales above $100 million, which was published in the Sept. 14 print edition of the Business Journal.
If Alliant can reach $2 billion in sales, it would become the fifth-biggest insurance broker in the world, according to AM Best.
The Business Journal named its longtime CEO, Tom Corbett, as its 2018 Businessperson of the Year in the finance category.
The company has continued to grow during the public health crisis.
In July, it completed the buy of what it calls the “premier insurance marketing organization” in the senior market, Senior Market Sales Inc. of Omaha, Neb.
SMS counts more than 300 employees and 65,000 independent agents under contract. The deal “solidifies our commitment to a full-service benefits platform and diversifies our offerings with innovative new technologies, tools, and resources,” Corbett said at the time of the acquisition.
Other Notables
• The fastest grower by percentage was Chicago-based Gallagher, which reported sales of $55 million. Its 59% year-over-year boost helped it jump to No. 5 from No. 9 a year ago.
It’s a turnaround from 2018, when its Irvine office had the biggest decline on the list, reporting a 24% drop to $34.5 million.
• Another big grower was Atlanta-based OneDigital Health and Benefits, which reported $27 million, a 40% year-over-year increase. The Irvine office climbed one place to No. 13.
• The Irvine office of No. 2 Marsh Risk & Insurance Services/Mercer climbed a healthy 17% to revenue of $94.7 million.
• Third-placed USI Insurance Services LLC in Irvine reported sales fell about 1% to $60.2 million.
• Last year’s fastest grower, Epic Insurance Brokers & Consultants, which saw sales surge 65% in 2018, reported a 7.8% decline in 2019 to $19 million, which was good for No. 15.
• The biggest decliner was Lockton Insurance Brokers LLC which said sales fell 10% to $11.3 million.
