Insurance companies from China and Japan maintained their stranglehold on the top spots in S&P Global Market Intelligence's ranking of the 20 largest insurers in Asia-Pacific by market capitalization in the third quarter.

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. was once again the largest insurer in the region with a market cap of US$145.48 billion, up 13.4% from the end of June.

Meanwhile, New China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Japan's Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. swapped seventh and eighth spot, while Australia's QBE Insurance Group Ltd. slipped two notches to the 17th spot after losing 15.5% of its market cap in the three months through Sept. 30.

The Japanese, Australian and South Korean insurers on the list, aside from Sompo Holdings Inc., all saw their market cap decline quarter over quarter for the three-month period.

The SNL South Asia Insurance Index was the worst performer among insurance indexes in the region, seeing a 18.7% decline for the quarter, while the SNL China Insurance Index pulled away from the rest of the regional indexes, rising 9.3%.