IRF Releases 2025 Top Performer Study: Financial & Insurance Industries

Washington, DC (September 17, 2025): The Incentive Research Foundation announces the release of The IRF 2025 Top Performer Study: Financial & Insurance Industries. The study provides benchmarks and best practices employed by top performing financial services and insurance companies to influence performance, shape culture, strengthen partnerships, and retain top talent using non-cash rewards.

To be considered a top performer for this study, companies met benchmarks in revenue growth, achievement of performance goals, customer trends, and employee attraction, and retention. Of the 145 financial services and insurance companies reviewed, 22% of participating firms qualified as top-performing companies.

Key insights specific to the financial services and insurance industries include:

• Strong Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Nearly all Top Performers (97%) report strong cross-departmental collaboration in program design, which is 40% higher than the Comparator group.
• Excellent Financial Support: Three-quarters of Top Performers rate financial support for their programs as excellent, compared with half of Comparators.
• High Perceived Value of Rewards: Top Performers prioritize the perceived value of merchandise and gift card rewards, with 68% placing this as a high priority compared with 43% of Comparators.
• Unlimited Reward Potential: 87% of Top Performers allow sales participants to earn unlimited rewards, compared with 55% of Comparators.
• Focus on Optimization: Among Top Performers, 60% treat reward and recognition programs as living initiatives, continually assessing and refining them to ensure maximum impact, nearly 20% higher than Comparators.

To download a copy of the full study and white paper, please visit The IRF 2025 Top Performer Study: Financial & Insurance Industries webpage.

The full Top Performer Series will include Top 10 Things Top Performing Companies Do Differently and industry reports for the Financial Services and Insurance, Automotive & Manufacturing, and Technology industries.

The IRF 2025 Top Performer Study: Financial & Insurance Industries was supported by IRF Research Advocacy Partner, 360insights.

360insights is a partner engagement and business optimization company, enabling brands to better influence, manage, and engage with their complex channel ecosystems. We offer a suite of channel solutions including a SaaS-based platform that empowers brands to fully orchestrate their complex partner networks and optimize their promotional spend on MDF/Co-op, rebates, promotional allowances, SPIFFs, and rewards. Combining incentive management and ecosystem orchestration with a powerful data analytics engine, 360insights serves more than 300 of the most recognizable brands around the world, across multiple industries, helping them grow their indirect business. www.360insights.com