Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. MRSH recently launched Archer by Marsh, a new service that helps life and annuity insurers, asset managers and capital providers create and run reinsurance businesses globally. Archer takes Marsh beyond traditional advisory work by supporting the full process, from product, asset and capital decisions to regulatory approval, setup and ongoing operations.
Clients can use Marsh’s shared infrastructure while keeping ownership and strategic control. The offering combines actuarial, capital, risk, reinsurance, insurance management and regulatory expertise. It can support standalone reinsurance vehicles, special purpose reinsurers and dedicated cells. Marsh also formed Bermuda-based Mangrove ISAC Life Re to facilitate sidecar and affiliate reinsurance solutions.
Asset-intensive reinsurance is gaining attention as insurers, asset managers and capital providers look for more efficient ways to manage and finance insurance liabilities. By bringing these capabilities together, Archer could reduce the complexity of coordinating multiple providers and shorten the path from designing a reinsurance structure to operating it.
Marsh also brings scale to the offering: the company reports about $27 billion in annual revenues, more than 95,000 employees and operations across 130 countries. That reach, combined with Archer’s open-architecture model, could support clients looking to establish and operate specialized reinsurance structures.
The move is likely to broaden Marsh’s revenue mix beyond brokerage and consulting by adding recurring, service-based income from operating reinsurance vehicles after launch. The model may also deepen client relationships because Marsh can remain involved across the whole process. That creates opportunities to cross-sell capabilities across reinsurance, investments and consulting. If adoption grows, Archer could create a more durable revenue stream tied to the ongoing operation of reinsurance businesses.
MRSH’s Price Performance
Shares of Marsh have declined 8.9% year to date compared with the industry’s 18.2% decrease.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Marsh currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Finance space are Assurant, Inc. AIZ, CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO and Prudential Financial, Inc. PRU. While Assurant currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), CNO Financial and Prudential carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Assurant’s current-year earnings is pegged at $22.28 per share, which indicates 12.7% year-over-year growth. It has witnessed five upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction in the past 60 days. AIZ beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 17.7%.
The consensus mark for CNO Financial’s current-year earnings is pegged at $4.74 per share, which indicates 16.2% year-over-year growth. It has witnessed two upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction in the past 60 days. CNO beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 23.2%.
The consensus estimate for Prudential’s current-year earnings is pegged at $14.59 per share, which witnessed 10 upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction in the past 60 days. PRU beat earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed once, with an average surprise of 10.8%.
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Marsh (MRSH): Free Stock Analysis Report
CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO): Free Stock Analysis Report
Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU): Free Stock Analysis Report
Assurant, Inc. (AIZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).