Employee Benefit Adviser Publishes Ranking of The Top 50 Benefit Brokers

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and Willis Top List of Benefit Firms in First Ranking by Fees and Commissions Based on Exclusive Data Compiled by miEdge

Employee Benefit Adviser, a SourceMedia brand, today released the first-ever independent ranking of the 50 largest employee benefit brokers based exclusively on the commissions and fees the firms generate from health and welfare benefit insurance policies at large-group employers.

Mercer, with commissions and fees of $190 million, is the No. 1 firm on the list of Top 50 Brokerages;Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s benefit division placed second, with commissions and fees of $159 million. Willis Group, with $128 million, USI Insurance Services, with $115 million, and Lockton Cos., with $112 million in commissions and fees, rounded out the top five.

“The Top 50 Brokerages provides an objective view of who the leaders are in the employee benefits space,” said Elizabeth Galentine, Editor-in-Chief of Employee Benefit Adviser. “The listing is sure to become an important tool for employee benefit decision-makers as they strive to give their workers the best benefit options.”

Business intelligence analytics firm miEdge compiled the rankings for Employee Benefit Adviser based on Form 5500 Schedule A health and welfare insurance data that employers submit annually to the Department of Labor. Form 5500 A reports are designed to ensure that employee benefit plans are operated and managed in accordance with DOL standards. Welfare insurance includes dental, vision, life, disability, long-term care and other voluntary benefit policies.

Organizations that insure groups of less than 100 people are not required to file Schedule A forms. Therefore, miEdge only calculates large-group insurance plans.

“Other benefit-firm rankings are based on self-reported data, so we’re very proud to produce with EBA the first-ever ranking of benefit brokers by actual revenue,” said Mark Smith, miEdge founder and CEO.

The Top 50 Brokerages ranking is posted on the Employee Benefit Adviser website and printed in the brand’s December issue. Along with the ranking, EBA is running a report on how the top brokers have grown their businesses. The article includes exclusive interviews with Mercer President and CEO Julio Portalatin, Gallagher President Jim Durkin, Willis CEO Jim Blaney and other top brokerage executives.

EBA is also running a series of articles that looks at how top brokerages, including Lockton, Higginbotham and Pacific Resources, are helping clients control costs, adopt new technologies and meet other challenges.

About Employee Benefit Adviser
Employer Benefit Adviser is the information resource employee benefit advisers, brokers and consultants turn to for news, analysis, research and commentary on benefits and other human-resource issues.

About SourceMedia
SourceMedia, an Observer Capital company, is a diversified business-to-business digital media company serving senior professionals in the financial, technology and healthcare sectors. Brands include Accounting Today, American Banker, The Bond Buyer, Employee Benefit Adviser, Employee Benefit News, Financial Planning, Health Data Management, Insurance Networking News and On Wall Street.

About miEdge
miEdge™ is the premiere provider of 5500 data solutions specifically designed for insurance professionals. Brokers, agents, carriers, service providers, consultants and financial professionals all rely on the accuracy of its 5500 information to identify leads, research competitors and understand market dynamics to grow their business. The innovative miEdge solutions utilize Form 5500 data from the Department of Labor and apply proprietary business logic, along with algorithms and data cleansing, to provide unrivalled data intelligence in an intuitive user interface.

Corporate Contact:
Jeannie Nguyen
Executive Marketing Director
212-803-8324
jeannie.nguyen@sourcemedia.com