Aegon

Aegon N.V. (styled as AEGON) is an multinational life insurance, pensions and asset management company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. At the end of 2011, Aegon companies employed about 25,000 people worldwide, serving approximately 47 million customers.

History

Aegon was founded in 1983 from the merger of AGO Holding N.V. (created by the merger of three companies in 1968) and Ennia N.V. (formed by the merger of three companies in 1969).

Aegon acquired Scottish Equitable in 1994. In 1998 it formed Stonebridge International Insurance Ltd to create and market a range of personal insurance products, providing accident, health and unemployment cover to its own customers and via business partners.

In 1999 it acquired the life assurance business of Guardian Royal Exchange. That year it also bought Transamerica Corporation.

On August 13, 2007, Aegon and Merrill Lynch announced a strategic business partnership in the areas of life insurance and investment products. As part of the relationship, Aegon acquired two of Merrill Lynch's life insurance companies for US$1.3 billion.

On April 23, 2008, Alex Wynaendts succeeded the retiring Donald J. Shepard as Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Aegon N.V. following the Group's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: Donald Shepard announced his retirement in November 2007, after six years as Chairman.

On October 28, 2008, the Dutch government and De Nederlandsche Bank agreed to give Aegon a €3 billion capital injection to create a capital buffer in exchange for convertible bonds to ease the group through the financial crisis.[6] On June 15, 2011, Aegon fulfilled its key objective of repurchasing all of the EUR 3 billion core capital securities issued to the Dutch State. The total amount Aegon has paid to the Dutch State amounts to EUR 4.1 billion. Of this amount, EUR 3 billion covered the original issue of core capital securities, while an additional EUR 1.1 billion was paid in premium and interest.

On August 3, 2011, Aegon USA announced that all its various businesses will be grouped under a single brand name: Transamerica. Transamerica’s key businesses are life insurance, investments and retirement. The group includes companies whose history goes back over 100 years and whose products and services have become well-known throughout the USA, including founding companies Life Investors Insurance Company of America and Monumental Life Insurance Company.

Munich Re Group

Munich Re Group (Munich Reinsurance Company, German: Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft) is a reinsurance company based in Munich, Germany. It is one of the world’s leading reinsurers. ERGO, a Munich Re subsidiary, is the Group’s primary insurance arm.

Munich Re's shares are listed on all German stock exchanges and on the Xetra electronic trading system. Munich Re is included in the DAX index at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Euro Stoxx 50, and other indices.

In 2010 the company's equity amounted to €23.0 billion. The group’s premium income for the year (gross premiums written) was €45.5 billion, with its consolidated profit amounting to €2.430 billion.

In February 2010, U.S. investor Warren Buffett became Munich Re's largest single shareholder with 10.2 percent of the company

History

In 1880, Carl von Thieme, a native of Erfurt, whose father was the director of Thuringia, founded Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft together with Wilhelm von Finck (co-owner of the Merck Finck & Co bank) and Theodor von Cramer-Klett. This was followed by the founding of Allianz Versicherungs-Gesellschaft in 1890. Carl von Thieme was head of Munich Re until 1921, and Wilhelm von Finck served as Chairman of the supervisory board until 1924. Munich Re became renowned after the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 as the only insurer that remained solvent after paying out all the claims.

Aviva

Aviva plc (LSE: AV., NYSE: AV) is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the sixth-largest insurance company in the world measured by net premium income and has around 43 million customers across 21 countries. It is the market leader in both general insurance and life and pensions in the UK and has major businesses in Asia, Continental Europe and North America.

Aviva has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

History
Aviva can trace its history back to the establishment of the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society in London in 1696.

It was created by a merger of two British insurance firms, Norwich Union and CGU plc (itself created by the 1998 merger of Commercial Union and General Accident as CGNU in 2000. The Aviva name was adopted in July 2002.

During March 2005 Aviva acquired the RAC plc breakdown recovery operation for around £1.1 billion.
In July 2006, Aviva greatly increased its presence in the United States by acquiring AmerUs Group, a financial services company founded in 1896. Aviva Corp. is not affiliated with Aviva Energy Corp., an energy consulting firm based in the U.S.

The Company continued to use the Norwich Union name as a trading name in the UK until 1 June 2009 when it became formally known as Aviva within the United Kingdom. The launch was supported by a £9 million advertising campaign to promote the rebranding (one of the most expensive ever in the UK insurance field), with the participation of celebrities including Bruce Willis and Alice Cooper. In January 2010, the process of Aviva's rebrand was formally recognised when they appeared on the shortlist of the Transform Awards for rebranding and brand transformation in a number of categories

In June 2009 the Company decided to dispose of Navigator, its Australian wealth management business, to National Australia Bank for A$825 million (£401 million).

In October 2009 the company decided to focus on its commercial insurance sector and demonstrate its commitment to brokers by launching their 'find a broker' facility, using the British Insurance Brokers Association search engine. To help them with this endeavour, Paul Whitehouse was recruited to play the part of a successful hairdresser running three salons. The message of the campaign focused on business insurance through insurance brokers. The closing line of the campaign was "We're in business to keep you in business".

In September 2011, Aviva completed the sale of RAC plc breakdown recovery operation for £1.0 billion to The Carlyle Group.

In August 2012, Aviva announced that up to 800 jobs would be lost following a reorganization caused by further turmoil in the euro region.

MetLife

MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, or MetLife, for short, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with 90 million customers in over 60 countries. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868.

On January 6, 1915, MetLife completed the mutualization process, changing from a stock life insurance company owned by individuals to a mutual company operating without external shareholders and for the benefit of policyholders. The company went public in 2000. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia’s Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East. MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States and serves 90 of the largest Fortune 500 companies. The company’s principal offices are located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, though it retains some executive offices and its boardroom in the MetLife Building, located at 200 Park Avenue, New York City, which it sold in 2005.

History

The predecessor company to MetLife began in 1863 when a group of New York City businessmen raised $100,000 to found the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company. The company insured Civil War sailors and soldiers against disabilities due to wartime wounds, accidents, and sickness. On March 24, 1868, it became known as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and shifted its focus to the life insurance business. A severe business depression that began in the early 1870s forced the company to contract, until it reached its lowest point in the late 1870s. After observing the insurance industry in Great Britain in 1879, MetLife President Joseph F. Knapp brought “industrial” or “workingmen’s” insurance programs to the United States – insurance issued in small amounts on which premiums were collected weekly or monthly at the policyholder’s home. By 1880, sales had exceeded a quarter million of such policies, resulting in nearly $1 million in revenue from premiums. In 1909, MetLife had become the nation’s largest life insurer in the U.S., as measured by life insurance in force (the total value of life insurance policies issued).

In 1907, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company tower was commissioned to serve as MetLife’s 23rd Street headquarters in Lower Manhattan. Completed two years later, the building was the world's tallest until 1913 and remained the company's headquarters until 2005. For many years, an illustration of the building (with light emanating from the tip of its spire and the slogan, "The Light That Never Fails") featured prominently in MetLife’s advertising. By 1930, MetLife insured every fifth man, woman, and child in the United States and Canada. During the 1930s, it also began to diversify its portfolio by reducing the percentage of individual mortgages in favor of public utility bonds, investments in government securities, and loans for commercial real estate. The company financed the construction of the Empire State Building in 1929 as well as provided capital to build Rockefeller Center in 1931. During World War II, MetLife placed more than 51 percent of its total assets in war bonds, and was the largest single private contributor to the Allied cause.

Life insurance
MetLife’s individual life insurance products and services comprise term life insurance and several types of permanent life insurance, including whole life, universal life and variable universal life. The company also offers group life insurance, provided through employers, which consists of term life, group variable universal life and group universal life. MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States, based on life insurance in-force.

Assicurazioni Generali

General Group / Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. is the largest insurance company in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. It has its headquarters in Trieste. In 2010, Assicurazioni Generali Group was the second largest insurance group in the world by revenue after AXA.

Under the name of Imperial Regia Privilegiata Compagnia di Assicurazioni Generali Austro-Italiche, the company was founded on December 26, 1831. At the time, Trieste was the most important sea port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The company grew in importance, becoming one of the largest insurance operators both in Italy and in Central Europe.

Operations
Generali's headquarters in Trieste, Italy.

Today, Generali operates primarily in Europe, Middle East and East Asia, with large market shares in Italy, Poland, Germany (under the name of Generali Deutschland), France, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, China and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with secondary operations in Latin America, for example, in Panama.

On Jerusalem's Jaffa Road the "Generali Building" , built by the company in 1935, is still known by that name though for decades the company has had no connection with it. It is a famous Jerusalem landmark, due to the large and well-preserved Assicurazioni Generali winged lion on its roof .

In Serbia the company operates under the name Delta Generali - a joint venture of Assicurazioni Generali and Serbian Delta Holding.

In India the company is represented by Future Generali, a joint venture of Future group and Assicurazioni Generali.

Subsidiaries of the group includes, in Italy: INA Assitalia, Fata Assicurazioni, Alleanza - Toro, Europ-Assistance, and Genertel.

Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Corporation is a Canadian insurance company and financial services provider. Manulife Financial's global head office is located in Toronto, Canada and the Company has operations in 21 countries and territories worldwide.

The company operates in Canada and Asia through the brand name "Manulife Financial" and in the United States primarily through its John Hancock division. It is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world as measured by market capitalization, and has approximately 26,000 employees world-wide.

Manulife Bank of Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation.

History

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company was founded in 1887. Its first president was the first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald. In 1897, Manulife Financial expanded its operations into Asia, including China and Hong Kong.

In 1999, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s voting eligible policyholders approved demutualization. Later that year, the shares of Manulife Financial Corporation, the holding company of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, began trading on The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) under the ticker 'MFC', and on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) under the ticker ‘945’. 

In 2002, Manulife–Sinochem Life Insurance Co. Ltd. was granted approval by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to officially open its branch office in Guangzhou, China. This was the first branch license granted by CIRC to a foreign invested joint–venture life insurance company. Later in 2003, Manulife-Sinochem received approval to open a branch office in Beijing. This was Manulife-Sinochem’s second branch license and the first multiple-branch license granted to a foreign-invested joint venture life insurance company. Manulife-Sinochem is now licensed to operate in more than 40 cities across China.

In 2003, Manulife Financial Corporation and John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. and (including its Canadian subsidiary Maritime Life) announced that their Boards of Directors had each unanimously agreed to a tax–free stock–for–stock merger of the companies creating a leading global insurance franchise. Completed in April 2004, the merger created the largest life insurer in Canada, second largest in North America, and fifth largest in the world at the time.

In 2008, Gail Cook-Bennett became the Chair of Manulife Financial’s Board of Directors.

In 2009, Donald Guloien, the Chief Investment Officer, succeeded Dominic D’Alessandro as President and CEO of Manulife Financial. Shortly before his departure, facing a shareholder revolt as the firm posted a quarterly loss for the first time in its public history, D'Alessandro modified his retirement package; the restricted units would only vest for a total of $10 million if the shares reached $36 by the end of 2011, and he would receive $5 million if the shares hit $30. However, the first initiatives under Guloien's leadership were a dividend cut and an equity offering to bolster Manulife's capital levels, making it difficult for the share price to reach the target levels needed to vest.

In September 2009, Manulife Financial Corporation closed a transaction to purchase AIC’s Canadian retail investment fund business. In October 2009, Manulife Financial announced that it had purchased Pottruff & Smith Travel Insurance Brokers Inc., a leading broker and third party administrator of travel insurance across Canada.

In 2010, Manulife Financial announced that it had closed the transaction to purchase Fortis Bank SA/NV’s1 49 per cent ownership in ABN AMRO TEDA Fund Management Co. Ltd. The new joint venture, Manulife TEDA Fund Management Company Ltd. (Manulife TEDA), provides traditional retail and institutional asset management for clients across the Chinese market. Manulife TEDA is 51 per cent owned by Northern International Trust, part of Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co., Ltd. (TEDA).

Allianz, the world's largest insurance group

Allianz SE (formerly Allianz AG) is a German bunch banking casework aggregation headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its amount business and focus is insurance. As of 2010, it was the world's 12th-largest banking casework accumulation and 23rd-largest aggregation according to a blended admeasurement by Forbes magazine.

Its Allianz All-around Investors analysis ranks as a top-five all-around alive investment manager, accepting €1,443 billion of assets beneath administration (AuM), of which €1,131 billion are third-party assets (as of 2010-09-30), with specialized asset managers including PIMCO (Bonds), RCM (Equities) and Degi (Real estate).

Allianz awash Dresdner Coffer to Commerzbank in November 2008. As a aftereffect of this merger, Allianz acquired a 14% authoritative pale in the new Commerzbank Group.

HistoryAllianz AG was founded in Berlin on 5 February 1890 by Carl von Thieme (a built-in of Erfurt, whose ancestor was the administrator of Thuringia) and Wilhelm von Finck (co-owner of the Merck Finck & Co bank). The aboriginal footfall to become an all-embracing aggregation started with the aperture of a annex appointment in London in the backward 19th century.

Operations

Allianz has operations in over 70 countries and has about 180,000 employees. The ancestor company, Allianz SE, is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Allianz has added than 60 actor barter common and its casework cover acreage and blow insurance, activity and bloom allowance and asset management.

Top 10 Insurance Companies In World

1. American International Group (AIG)

 Country: United States. American International Group, Inc. (AIG), a world leader in insurance and financial services, is the leading international insurance organization with operations in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions. AIG companies serve commercial, institutional and individual customers through the most extensive worldwide property-casualty and life insurance networks of any insurer. In addition, AIG companies are leading providers of retirement services, financial services and asset management around the world. AIG’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the stock exchanges in Paris and Tokyo.

2. AXA Group
Country: France. In 1980, AXA did not exist. Over the next 20 years, the Group would grow to become a major international player.AXA pursues successfully its external growth strategy: consolidation of AXA existing activities, with the acquisition of Oyak’s 50% stake in AXA Oyak, 2nd Turkish insurer, for 525 million dollars, and penetration of high growth potential markets, with the acquisition of 100% of the 3rd Mexican insurer, ING Seguros (for an amount of 1.5 billion dollars). Today AXA is present in geographically diverse markets, with operations concentrated in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

3. Allianz Worldwide
Country: Germany. The Allianz Group is one of the leading integrated financial services providers worldwide. With nearly 155,000 employees worldwide, the Allianz Group serves approximately 75 million customers in about 70 countries. On the insurance side, Allianz is the market leader in the German market and has a strong international presence.

4. Prudential Financial
Country: United States. Prudential Financial, Inc, a financial services leader with approximately $580 billion of Assets Under Management as of June 30, 2009, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth.

5. Manulife Financial
Country: Canada. Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 22 countries and territories world-wide. We provide financial protection and wealth management products and services, to individual and group customers in Canada, the United States and Asia. These products and services include individual life insurance, group life and health insurance, long-term care services, pension products, annuities, mutual funds and banking products. We offer reinsurance services, specializing in life retrocession and property and casualty reinsurance and provide investment management services with respect to the Company’s general fund and segregated fund assets and to mutual funds and institutional customers.

6. Generali Group
Country: Italy. The Generali Group is one of the most significant participants in the global insurance and financial products market. The Group is leader in Italy and Assicurazioni Generali, founded in 1831 in Trieste, is the Group’s Parent and principal operating Company. In recent years, the Group has made a significant return to central-eastern European markets and has set up offices in the principal markets of the Far East, among which China and India.

7. MetLife
Country: United States. MetLife, Inc. is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to millions of individual and institutional customers throughout the United States. Outside the U.S., MetLife companies have direct insurance operations in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe.

8. Aviva
Country: United Kingdom. Aviva is one of the leading providers of life and pension products in Europe and are actively growing our long-term savings businesses in Asia Pacific and the USA. Their main activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance

9. Munich Re Group
Country: Germany. The Munich Re Group is one of the world’s leading risk carriers. It’s business covers the whole value chain in insurance and reinsurance.

10. AEGON
Counry: Netherlands. AEGON is an international business, providing life insurance, pensions and other long-term savings and investment products to millions of customers around the world. The company has major operations in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as well as other businesses in Asia, the Americas and elsewhere in Europe. AEGON is listed on the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, London, New York and Tokyo

Prudential Financial, Inc

For more than 135 years, Prudential Financial, Inc., has helped individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. Today, we are one of the world's largest financial services institutions with operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. We also have one of the most recognized and trusted brand symbols: The Rock , an icon of strength, stability, expertise, and innovation.

Insurance Overview

Whatever your budget and your needs, a life insurance policy from Prudential can help protect those who matter most to you.

Products

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Life insurance helps protect your family or provide a benefit for others.

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Planning for retirement? An annuity can provide retirement income you can't outlive.

Auto, Home, RV, Watercraft, and Personal Liability Insurance
Help protect your family and your assets from the unexpecte

Life insurance, disability insurance, and annuities are issued by The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Newark, NJ, and its affiliates. Each is a Prudential Financial company that is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations. Our policies and contracts contain exclusions, limitations, reduction and terms for keeping them in force. A licensed financial professional can provide you with cost and complete details. The availability of other products varies by carrier and state. All guarantees are based on the claims-paying ability of the issuing company.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, formerly The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, also known as The Equitable, was founded by Henry Baldwin Hyde in 1859. In 1991, AXA, a French insurance company, acquired majority control of The Equitable. In 2004 it officially changed its name to AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company.

History
Equitable Life Insurance opened its headquarters at the Equitable Life Building in 1875 near Wall Street. It had an excellent location with three entrances on Broadway (Manhattan), Pine Street, and Cedar Street. The edifice had six elevators and incomparable facilities for lawyers, who were located almost entirely in the building's upper stories. Aside from Hyde, who was president of Equitable, the firm's officers included James Waddell Alexander (Vice President), George W. Phillips (Actuary) who was Vice President of the Actuarial Society of America, and Samuel Borrowe (Secretary). Borrowe's family was a prominent New York family connected to the Hallett and Alsop families.

James Waddell Alexander, the son of James Waddel Alexander, was the company president at the time of the Hyde costume ball scandal in 1905, in which James Hazen Hyde, the son of the founder and a vice president of the company, was falsely accused through a media smear campaign initiated by Alexander and board directors E. H. Harriman, Henry Clay Frick, J.P. Morgan of charging a fabulous $200,000 costume ball to the company. The repercussions rocked Wall Street, and resulted in an investigation of the entire insurance industry by the State of New York.

After the company's headquarters building burned down in 1912, Equitable moved to the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway in Manhattan.

unique code : F2AHR9MF52G3

Website : http://www.axa-equitable.com

American International Group (AIG)

American International Group, Inc., or AIG, is an American multinational insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters is reported as 180 Maiden Lane in New York City (was formerly in the American International Building in New York City). The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in La Défense, Paris, and its Asian headquarters office is in Hong Kong. According to the 2011 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG was the 29th-largest public company in the world. It was listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average from April 8, 2004 to September 22, 2008.

AIG suffered from a liquidity crisis when its credit ratings were downgraded below "AA" levels in September 2008. The United States Federal Reserve Bank on September 16, 2008 created an $85 billion credit facility to enable the company to meet increased collateral obligations consequent to the credit rating downgrade, in exchange for the issuance of a stock warrant to the Federal Reserve Bank for 79.9% of the equity of AIG. The Federal Reserve Bank and the United States Treasury by May 2009 had increased the potential financial support to AIG, with the support of an investment of as much as $70 billion, a $60 billion credit line and $52.5 billion to buy mortgage-based assets owned or guaranteed by AIG, increasing the total amount available to as much as $182.5 billion. AIG subsequently sold a number of its subsidiaries and other assets to pay down loans received, and continues to seek buyers of its assets.

History

AIG history dates back to 1919, when Cornelius Vander Starr established an insurance agency in Shanghai, China. Starr was the first Westerner in Shanghai to sell insurance to the Chinese, which he continued to do until AIG left China in early 1949—as Mao Zedong led the advance of the Communist People's Liberation Army on Shanghai. Starr then moved the company headquarters to its current home in New York City. The company went on to expand, often through subsidiaries, into other markets, including other parts of Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.

In 1962, Starr gave management of the company's lagging U.S. holdings to Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, who shifted its focus from personal insurance to high-margin corporate coverage. Greenberg focused on selling insurance through independent brokers rather than agents to eliminate agent salaries. Using brokers, AIG could price insurance according to its potential return even if it suffered decreased sales of certain products for great lengths of time with very little extra expense. In 1968, Starr named Greenberg his successor. The company went public in 1969.

Beginning in 2005, AIG became embroiled in a series of fraud investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Justice Department, and New York State Attorney General's Office. Greenberg was ousted amid an accounting scandal in February 2005; he is still fighting civil charges being pursued by New York state. The New York Attorney General's investigation led to a $1.6 billion fine for AIG and criminal charges for some of its executives. Greenberg was succeeded as CEO by Martin J. Sullivan, who had begun his career at AIG as a clerk in its London office in 1970.

AIG purchased the remaining 39% that it did not own of online auto insurance specialist 21st Century Insurance in 2007 for $749 million.With the failure of the parent company and the continuing recession in late 2008, AIG rebranded its insurance unit to 21st Century Insurance. 

On June 15, 2008, after disclosure of financial losses and subsequent to a falling stock price, Sullivan resigned and was replaced by Robert B. Willumstad, Chairman of the AIG Board of Directors since 2006. Willumstad was forced by the US government to step down and was replaced by Edward M. Liddy on September 17, 2008. AIG's board of directors named Robert Benmosche CEO on August 3, 2009 to replace Mr. Liddy, who earlier in the year announced his retirement.

For more information click on the website : AIG.com