Insurance benchmarking and best practices consulting firm WardGroup has released its list of the top 50 performing insurancecompanies for 2006. The “Ward's 50″ is an annual analysis of thefinancial performance of over 3,000 U.S. property-casualtyinsurance companies. Each of the top 50 companies has passed allsafety and consistency tests and achieved superior performance overthe five years analyzed.

The study's findings indicate that the 50 top property-casualtyinsurance companies produced a 14.1 percent return on averageequity from 2001 to 2005, compared to 6.3 percent for theproperty-casualty industry overall.

“The best companies often do things differently in order to setthemselves apart from the competition,” said Jeff Rieder, presidentof Ward Group. “In particular, these companies maintain efficientoperating models, meet the needs of customers, and successfullyexecute their strategies.”

2006 Ward's 50 Top Property-Casualty Performers

(listed alphabetically)

Accident Fund

Acuity

Allstate Insurance CompanyAmerican Modern Insurance Group

American National Property & Casualty Company

Amerisure Companies

Automobile Club of Southern California

Auto-Owners Insurance Group

California State Automobile Association

Canal Insurance Group

Central Mutual of Ohio Group

Chubb Group

Church Mutual Insurance Company

Cincinnati Insurance Group

Columbia Insurance Group

The Commerce Group, Inc.

Donegal Insurance Group

Farm Bureau of Michigan Group

Federated Mutual Group

Frankenmuth Financial Group

GEICO

Germania Insurance Group

Grange Mutual Casualty Group

Grinnell Mutual Group

The Hartford Fire Group

Hastings Mutual Insurance Company

IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company

Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Company

Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company

Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company

Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation

Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company

Markel Corporation Group

Mercury Casualty Group

Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company

North Star Mutual Insurance Company

Old Republic Insurance Group

Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company

Philadelphia Insurance Companies

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company

Protective Insurance Group

RLI Insurance Group

SECURA Insurance Companies

Selective Insurance Company of America

Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company

United Fire & Casualty Group

USAA Group

West Bend Mutual

Western National Mutual Insurance Group

Western World Group

More information is available at www.wardinc.com.