Western & Southern Financial Group

Western & Southern Financial Group, also commonly referred to as Western & Southern, is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based diversified family of financial services companies with assets owned, managed and under care in excess of $52 billion as of March, 2011. It is one of the eight highest-rated life insurance groups in the world based on Standard & Poor's rating.

With heritage dating back to 1888, Western & Southern is a Fortune 500 company ranking at 482 as of 2012. Through its member companies, Western & Southern offers a variety of financial services such as life insurance, annuities, mutual funds and investment management. Western & Southern's member companies include The Western & Southern Life Insurance Co, Western-Southern Life Assurance Co, Columbus Life Insurance Co, Lafayette Life Insurance Co, IFS Financial Services, Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Eagle Realty Group, Integrity Life Insurance Co, and National Integrity Life Insurance Co.

Western & Southern's annual report is available at "Western Southern Annual Report". Western & Southern Financial Group. Retrieved 2011-05-20.

Western & Southern hosts the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament. This tennis event has contributed more than $5.5 million to charities in the Greater Cincinnati community.

Western & Southern played a key role in the development of the Great American Tower at Queen City Square project in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.

Westfield Insurance

Westfield Insurance, the primary subsidiary of Westfield Group, is a multi-line provider of business property & liability insurance, personal lines insurance (including auto, homeowner's and specialty), agribusiness insurance, and surety bonds. Based in Westfield Center, Ohio, Westfield employs over 2,400 nationwide including 1,700 in their home office. Despite its rural location, it is the largest employer in rapidly-growing Medina County.

Westfield began as Ohio Farmers Insurance Company in 1848, when a group of farmers joined forces to insure their properties. In 2010, the company collected $1.4 billion in premiums. At the helm are Bob Joyce, Executive Chair of Westfield Group, Jim Clay, CEO of Westfield Group, and Ed Largent, President of Westfield Insurance.

Westfield's products are distributed through a network of more than 1,200 independent insurance agents, and now the company has grown to become one of the top 50 property-casualty insurers in the U.S. It is also one of the nation's top-ten providers of farm insurance.

In addition to providing insurance and financial services, Westfield owns the Westfield Group Country Club, a 36-hole championship golf course which hosted the Junior PGA Championship until 2007. Also on company grounds are the Blair Center (a convention center), Westfield Bank, and Westfield Inn, a newly-renovated private hotel. The Home Office, Country Club, Blair Center, Bank, and Inn are all situated in the heart of the small Village of Westfield Center. The Colonial & New England architecture of the company buildings lends a distinct appearance to the town square.

Westfield Insurance also sponsors seven televised High School Scholastic Competitions including the Brain Game, Academic Challenge, Hometown High-Q, In the Know, Quizbusters and BrainBusters.

White Mountains Insurance Group

White Mountains Insurance Group (NYSE: WTM) is a holding company with business interests in property and casualty insurance, and reinsurance. The group owns reinsurer Sirius and a 75% stake in specialty insurance carrier OneBeacon. It is based in Hanover, New Hampshire.

It is owned by Jack Byrne who in 1985 was invited to run the troubled Fireman's Fund, then a subsidiary of American Express. Fireman's had incurred $356 million in pretax losses in 1983 and 1984. Byrne greatly improved Fireman's financial performance and initiated a public offering of some of Fireman's shares in 1985. The company was sold to Allianz AG in 1991. Byrne, meanwhile, retained the Fireman's holding company, which he later renamed White Mountains.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (White Mountains or the Company) is a financial services holding company with primary business interests in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. The Company's corporate headquarters and its registered office are located in Hamilton, Bermuda and its principal executive office is located in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The Company conducts its principal businesses through:

• Sirius Group - global reinsurance.
• OneBeacon - specialty insurance. OneBeacon's common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "OB". White Mountains holds a 75% interest in OneBeacon as of 12/31/11.
• White Mountains Advisors - investment management with $34 billion of assets under management as of 12/31/11.

White Mountains' common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Bermuda Stock Exchange under the symbol "WTM". Market capitalization as of December 31, 2011 was approximately $3.4 billion.

As of December 31, 2011, White Mountains reported total assets of $14.1 billion, adjusted shareholders equity of $4.1 billion, and Adjusted Book Value per Share of $542.

WellPoint

WellPoint, Inc. is the largest managed health care, for-profit company in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. It was formed when WellPoint Health Networks, Inc. merged into Anthem, Inc., with the surviving Anthem adopting the name, WellPoint, Inc. and began trading its common stock under the WLP symbol on December 1, 2004. In 2009, WellPoint sold its NextRx subsidiaries to Express Scripts for $4.675 billion.

WellPoint is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan counties and as Blue Cross, Blue Shield or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare. In addition to Blue Cross, the company also operates under the Anthem name.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA)

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) is a federation of 38 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States. Combined, they directly or indirectly provide health insurance to over 99 million Americans. The history of Blue Cross dates back to 1929, while the history of Blue Shield dates to 1939. The Blue Cross Association dates back to 1960, while its Blue Shield counterpart was actually created in 1948. The two organizations merged in 1982, forming the current association.

History

Blue Cross and Blue Shield developed separately, with Blue Cross plans providing coverage for hospital services, while Blue Shield covered physicians' services.

Blue Cross is a name used by an association of health insurance plans throughout the United States. Its predecessor was developed by Justin Ford Kimball in 1929, while he was vice-president of Baylor University's health care facilities in Dallas, Texas. The first plan guaranteed teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 a year, and was later extended to other employee groups in Dallas, and then nationally. The American Hospital Association (AHA) adopted the Blue Cross symbol in 1939 as the emblem for plans meeting certain standards. In 1960 the AHA commission was superseded by the Blue Cross Association. Affiliation with the AHA was severed in 1972.

The Blue Shield concept was developed at the beginning of the 20th century by employers in lumber and mining camps of the Pacific Northwest to provide medical care by paying monthly fees to medical service bureaus composed of groups of physicians. The first official Blue Shield Plan was founded in California in 1939. In 1948 the symbol was informally adopted by nine plans called the Associated Medical Care Plan, and was later renamed the National Association of Blue Shield Plans.

In 1982 Blue Shield merged with The Blue Cross Association to form the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Prior to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, organizations administering Blue Cross Blue Shield were tax exempt under 501(c) as social welfare plans. However, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 revoked that exemption because the plans sold commercial-type insurance. They became 501(m) organizations, subject to federal taxation but entitled to "special tax benefits" under IRC 833. In 1994, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association changed to allow its licensees to be for-profit corporations. Some plans[specify] are still considered not-for-profit at the state level.

Assurant

Assurant, Inc. is a holding company with businesses that provide a diverse set of specialty, niche-market insurance products in the property, casualty, life and health insurance sectors. The company’s four operating segments are Assurant Employee Benefits, Assurant Health, Assurant Solutions and Assurant Specialty Property.

The company, formerly known as Fortis, Inc., was spun off from Dutch and Belgian financial-services company Fortis Insurance N.V. in 2004. The company’s initial public offering on Feb. 5, 2004 at $1.76 billion was the fourth largest that year. In connection with the public offering, the company changed its name to Assurant, Inc.

Headquartered in New York City, Assurant is 285 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. It also is included in the Ward’s 50, which recognizes the top property-casualty insurance companies domiciled in the United States.

History

Assurant recently celebrated its 120th anniversary, tracing its roots back to founding of the La Crosse Mutual Aid Association, which was established to sell disability insurance in Wisconsin in the early 1890s. La Crosse Mutual Aid Association would later become the Time Insurance Company. In 1978, N.V. AMEV of the Netherlands acquired the Time Insurance Company (now Assurant Health) via its U.S. holding company AMEV Holdings, Inc. During the next 12 years, AMEV Holdings, Inc. would expand through acquisition, buying American Security Insurance (credit-related insurance); United Family (funeral insurance); Western Insurance Company (mutual funds); and Superior Insurance (auto insurance). In 1990, N.V. AMEV of the Netherlands acquired VSB Groep NV bank to become the Netherlands first financial conglomerate combining an insurer and a bank, creating Fortis. AMEV Holdings, Inc. was rebranded Fortis, Inc. in 1991. The business was subsequently renamed as Assurant and spun off from the parent company. 

Products and Services

In March 2010, Assurant Solutions and IBM unveiled a Real-Time Analytics Matching Platform (RAMP) to improve call center performance. RAMP is an application that works by analyzing historical data about the individual caller and the skill set of customer service representatives to optimize the routing of the call. As calls come in they are assigned to a customer service representative based on their expertise and past performance, improving customer response and retention rates.

In May 2012, Assurant launched solar project insurance for developers of mid-size (100 kW to 3 MW) solar projects.

Amerigroup

Amerigroup (NYSE: AGP) is an American managed care company, with two main goals: to meet the needs of Amerigroup members while keeping costs low. Amerigroup has more than 2.7 million members, and currently operates in 13 states nationwide including Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York State, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, and Virginia and expects operations to its 14th state, Kansas, as a result of a previously awarded state contract. It is a Fortune 500 company.

History
Amerigroup began as AMERICAID Community Care in 1994 and was initially aimed at the health care problems of children, mothers and pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid. Amerigroup became a publicly traded corporation in the fall of 2001. Today, Amerigroup serves more than 2.7 million members including Supplemental Security Income recipients, seniors and people with disabilities, many with complex physical and psychological illnesses. In 2006, Amerigroup entered the Medicare Advantage program, serving low-income people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid through special needs plans. In 2007, Amerigroup began the operation of traditional Medicare Advantage plans. Currently, Amerigroup offers health care services through three government programs that target different segments of the country’s low-income population: Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicare

Health Care Products :

•  Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
•  Seniors and People with Disabilities (S/PD)
•  Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
•  Family Care
•  Medicare Advantage

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company & Affiliated Companies is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, San Antonio, Texas, Gainesville, Florida, and Lynchburg, Virginia.

Nationwide Financial Services, a component of the group, was partially floated on the New York Stock Exchange prior to being repurchased by Nationwide Mutual in 2009. It had owned the majority of NFS common stock since it had gone public in 1997.

The Companies

Nationwide is one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world, focusing on domestic property and casualty insurance, life insurance and retirement savings, asset management, and strategic investments.

History
Beginnings as Farm Bureau Mutual

On December 17, 1925, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation incorporated the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in Columbus, Ohio. At that time, Ohio law required 100 people to pledge to become policyholders. The first agents managed to recruit ten times that number, and on April 12, 1926, Farm Bureau Mutual started business with 1,000 policyholders.

The first product of the new company, as its name implied, was automobile insurance. The company wrote policies only to Ohio farmers. In 1928, Farm Bureau Mutual began offering policies to West Virginia farmers, followed by Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, and North Carolina. Farm Bureau Mutual began underwriting residents of small towns in 1931, and residents in larger cities in 1934.

Expansion
Also in 1934, Farm Bureau Mutual began offering fire insurance. This product grew the following year with the purchase of a struggling fire insurance company. With growth came a need for expansion of office space. In 1936, the company moved to the famous 246 Building at 246 N. High Street in Columbus. By 1943, Farm Bureau Mutual operated in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Even with the tripling of space in the 246 Building (which was finally dedicated on the 25th anniversary of the company), Farm Bureau Mutual still had insufficient office space, and began opening regional offices in 1951.

In 1955, Farm Bureau Mutual changed its name to Nationwide Insurance, a name by which it's commonly known today. In the 10 years that followed, Nationwide expanded into Oregon, making the company truly "nationwide". It also expanded into 19 other states, bringing the total by 1965 to 32 states and the District of Columbia.

Nationwide outgrew the 246 Building by the 1970s and work began on a new skyscraper headquarters for the company. In 1978, One Nationwide Plaza was completed at the southwest corner of N. High Street and Nationwide Blvd. on the northern edge of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Since 1978, Nationwide has added the following to its presence in Downtown Columbus: Plaza Two (on the northeast corner of High Street and Chestnut), Plaza Three (just west of High Street and Chestnut), Plaza Four (Front Street), and 275 Marconi (behind Plazas One and Three on Marconi Blvd) which together with Plaza One form the primary downtown complex. In addition to downtown Columbus, Nationwide also has a significant presence in the suburbs of Dublin and Grove City.

Nationwide currently has about 36,000 employees, and is ranked #100 in the most recent Fortune 500.