Reinsurance firm PartnerRe has topped a list of America’s 50 most trustworthy financial-services companies drawn up by a prestige business magazine.

Insurer and reinsurer Axis, which came fifth on the list, also featured in last year’s top 50.

The Forbes list, which concentrates exclusively on banks and insurance companies, rates entrants who corporate governance practices are among the most transparent in the industry.

Researchers looked at more than 700 publicly traded North American companies with market capitalisation of $250 million or more for the year ended in March.

Companies were given an “aggressive accounting and governance risk” (AGR) score based on their performance in the assessment.

Forbes said that PartnerRe scored an average AGR of 97 out of 100 over the past four quarters.

A statement from Axis said: “Axis Capital received an average AGR score over the last four quarters of 87 out of a possible 100, including a 91 in the first quarter of 2015.

“These results reflect the company’s ongoing commitment to financial transparency, corporate governance and its disciplined approach to risk management.”

Axis earlier this year failed in a bid to merge with PartnerRe after Italian investment firm Exor made a rival offer of around $6.9 billion for the company.

Two other Bermuda insurance market companies also featured on the mid-cap segment of the list, Aspen and Allied World.