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April 01, 2015 at 02:30 PM
The rich keep getting richer.
For its 29th annual guide that ranks the world’s wealthiest individuals, Forbes totaled 1,826 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $7.05 trillion — an increase from $6.4 trillion last year.
Of the top 10 overall, seven are from the United States, and one of whom has ties to the insurance industry. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, 59, retains his position as the world’s richest man with a net worth of $79.2 billion, a position he has held for 16 of the past 21 years. The two youngest on the list are Evan Spiegel, 24, and Bobby Murphy, 26, who founded the photo-messaging app Snapchat, who each have a net worth of $1.5 billion.
Twenty individuals with ties to the insurance industry made Forbes’ list, and include a part-owner of the Chicago Bears, a former professional tennis player, a Commander of the British Empire, seven U.S. citizens, and, of course, the world’s No. 3 richest person.
Below and on the following pages, here is Forbes’ list of the world’s 20 insurance billionaires:
No. 1741 (tie): V. Prem Watsa, 64
Toronto, Canada
Net worth: $1 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made, insurance & investments
Watsa founded the firm Fairfax Financial Holdings in 1985 and remains its chairman and CEO. Fairfax maintains property and casualty insurance and reinsurance interests across four continents, including Odyssey RE, Crum & Forster and Zenith Insurance Co.
(Photo: Wikipedia/C.R.Selvakumar)
No. 1741 (tie): Ion Tiriac, 75
Bucharest, Romania
Net worth: $1 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made, banking & insurance
A financial and real estate investor, Tiriac returned to the Forbes’ billionaire list for the first time since 2010 as Romania’s real estate market strengthened. After a career as a professional tennis player, he purchased assets in banking, auto leasing and the insurance company Allianz Tiriac.
(Photo: Tiriac, left. AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
No. 1638 (tie): Hal Jackman, 82
Toronto, Canada
Net worth: $1.1 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made, insurance & investments
Jackman and his family are the largest shareholders in E-L Financial Corporation, which provides insurance and financial services through its subsidiaries, including Empire Life Insurance.
No. 1638 (tie): Henry Engelhardt, CBE, 57
United States
Net worth: $1.1 billion
Source of wealth: CEO, Admiral Group plc
Chicago-born and University of Michigan educated, Engelhardt followed his girlfriend (now wife) to earn an MBA in France. Now living in Cardiff, U.K., Engelhardt founded the Admiral Group in 1993 to sell car and home insurance directly to customers, bypassing brokers. Admiral is a leader in price comparisons of car insurance, with sites in the U.K., Spain, France and the U.S., where it offers insurance under the brand Elephant Now and CompareNow.com.
No. 1638 (tie): Shlomo Eliahu, 79
Tel Aviv, Israel
Net worth: $1.1 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made, insurance
In 1966, he founded the Elihahu Insurance Co., Israel’s first insurance company, which provides coverage for cars, homes, property, accidents and life.
(Photo: Wikipedia/ /Shlomo Eliahu)
No. 1638 (tie): William Berkley, 68
Greenwich, Conn.
Net worth: $1.1 billion
Source of wealth: Chairman and CEO, W.R. Berkley
Berkley founded his P&C insurance firm nearly 50 years ago with just $2.500 while attending Harvard as an MBA student. The company does business through 27 subsidiaries. He has a nearly 20 percent stake, through about half of his shares are pledged as collateral for loans, Forbes says.
No. 1415: Surin Upatkoon, 65
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Net worth: $1.3 billion
Source of wealth: telecoms, lotteries, insurance
Upatkoon acquired a major stake in Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd., which he later split into MPHB Capital, an insurance and real estate firm. The company underwrites various general insurance products, including fire, motor, marine, personal accident, engineering, hospital and surgical, liability, specialized risk and bond.
No. 1250 (tie): George Joseph, 93
Los Angeles, Calif.
Net worth: $1.5 billion
Source of wealth: Self-made, insurance
George Joseph started his career as a door-to-door insurance salesman, where he realized that auto insurance companies weren’t screening their customers correctly. Forbes says that that led him to start Mercury General, which is now a publicly trader auto insurer with revenues of $2.7 billion.
(AP Photo/Jae Chong)
No. 1250 (tie): Rolf Gerling, 60
Zurich, Switzerland
Net worth: $1.5 billion
Source of wealth: Insurance
Gerling’s grandfather launched a small insurance business, Gerling Konzern, in 1904, which his father Hans expanded into a global insuranace group. Following Hans’ death, Gerling showed little interest in managing the business, Forbes says, and sold his 94 percent stake to the Talanx Group, German’s third largest insurance company, in 2005 for $1.6 billion.
(AP Photo/Hermann J. Knippertz)
No. 1250: Jayme Garfinkel, 69
San Paulo, Brazil
Net worth: $1.5 billion
Source of wealth: Insurance
Garfinkel serves as the chairman of the board of Brazil’s No. 1 auto insurer Porto Seguro, and is also its biggest shareholder, controlling about 40 percent of the firm’s shares.
