Insurance rankings 2008

With equity and credit markets experiencing unprecedented levels of volatility, it was not unexpected that banks strong in this sector would head the overall poll - but the consultancy category contained some surprises. Aaron Woolner reports

"2008 was the year of one-in-200 events," says Richard Boardman, head of UK insurance solutions sales at the Royal Bank of Scotland. "It was the year that the population, which typically lives in the tail of the curve, took up residence in the centre of the distribution - and they brought a couple of black swans with them."

As the FTSE plunged from just over 6,000 points to as low as 3,500, insurers that were alert to the dangers of falling equity values have been best placed to weather the