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).