Zurich Insurance Group

Zurich Insurance Group, Switzerland's largest insurer, had a good 2019 with operating profit up 16% to $5.3 billion. Under CEO Mario Greco—a former high-ranking Zurich executive who spent several years helming Italian rival Generali before becoming Zurich's group CEO—the 148-year-old firm spent three years cutting costs before shifting its emphasis to organic growth in late 2019. The company currently has a headcount of over 55,000 workers and operates across over 215 countries and territories. Greco has identified digital transformation as a significant challenge for the sector, alongside measures that are necessary to address the climate emergency. Zurich says it expects to pay out $750 million in COVID-19-related claims during 2020, though a test case lodged by British financial regulators, regarding pandemic claims and the wording of Zurich policies, could potentially add another $200 million to that tally.