|
TOP 5 INSURANCE COMPANIES |
TOP 1 |
|
ING Group:
ING, which stands for Internationale Nederlanden Groep (“International Netherlands Group”), originated in the Netherlands. It is a financial institution that provides banking, insurance, and asset management.
The headquarters of the firm are at ING House in the Zuidas business district in Amsterdam. Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands inaugurated the building officially on 16 September 2002. ING House has a foyer, restaurant, library, an auditorium that holds 250 seats, and over 800 m² of conference rooms. The light-filled building also shelters an art collection.
In 2009, ING Group served 85 million private, corporate, and institutional clients in over 40 countries. It employed over 100,000 people. The Group owns ING Direct as well as various operations in insurance, retail banking investment banking, and investment management. Its services are active in Australia, Canada, France, India, Italy, Spain, Poland, the United Kingdom, the USA, and elsewhere. In terms of revenue, ING is the largest banking and financial company in the world.
|
|
|
|
Official website |
|
|
|
|
TOP 2 |
|
AIG:
AIG (American International Group) is an American insurance corporation with its corporate headquarters in the American International Building in New York City. The British headquarters operate out of Fenchurch Street, London; continental Europe operations are based in La Défense, Paris; and the Asian headquarters are in Hong Kong. AIG went public in 1969.
In September 2008, AIG’s credit ratings were downgraded below AA levels, which caused a liquidity crisis. On 16 September 2008, The US Federal Reserve Bank created an US$85 billion credit facility so the company could meet higher collateral obligations caused by the reduction in its credit rating. In return AIG issued a stock warrant for 79.9 % of its equity to the Federal Reserve Bank.
The history of the firm goes back to 1919 when Cornelius Vander Starr, an American with Dutch roots, opened an insurance agency in Shanghai, China. In Shanghai, Starr was the first Westerner to sell insurance to the local population; and he did so until early 1949, when AIG pulled out of China while Mao Zedong and the Communist People’s Liberation Army were advancing on Shanghai. The headquarters of the company were established in New York City. AIG continued growing into other markets: other parts of Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, North Africa, and the Middle East, frequently using local subsidiaries.
|
|
|
|
Official website |
|
TOP 3 |
|
Allianz:
Allianz, based in Munich, Germany, is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services.
Allianz AG was founded in Berlin in 1890. In 1949 it transferred its headquarters to Munich. The company initiated its international career by opening a branch office in London in the late 19th century, gradually renewing its activities after the end of the Second World War. Allianz opened an office in Paris in the late 1950s and another in Italy in the 1960s. This expansion was boosted in the 1970s by growth into Brazil, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the USA. In 1990, the company began expanding into eight Eastern European countries and gained a foothold in Hungary. During the same decade, Allianz first acquired Fireman’s Fund, an insurer in the USA, and then bought Assurances Generales de France (AGF) in Paris. The company followed up by moving into Asia through joint ventures and acquisitions in China and South Korea. At around the same time Allianz also took steps to increase its asset management business, e.g. with the acquisition of asset management companies in California.
In 2001, Allianz acquired Dresdner Bank, a German bank of some size. Allianz Group and Dresdner Bank went on to form Allianz Global Investors by merging their asset management activities.
Allianz is represented in over 70 countries and has over 180,000 employees. Allianz SE, the holding company, with its main office in Munich, heads the international group. Allianz Group offers wide-ranging services in property, casualty, life, and health insurance, and in asset management and banking, to over 60 million customers around the world.
|
|
|
|
Official website |
|
|
|
|
TOP 4 |
|
Zurich:
Zurich Financial Services Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is a major provider – as its name implies – of financial services.
The company was founded in 1872 under the name of Versicherungs-Verein (“Insurance Association”) as a subsidiary of the Schweiz Marine Insurance Company. In 1875, the company changed its name to Zurich Marine and Accident Insurance, and again in 1894 to Zurich General Accident and Liability Insurance. The firm acquired Altstadt Compagnie d’Assurances SA in Switzerland in 1982. In 1998, BAT Industries sold its financial service operations, British American Financial Services (BAFS) to Zurich for US$18.6 billion; BAFS included Allied Dunbar, Eagle Star, and Farmers Group, Inc.
The business structure of the firm consisted of dual holding companies (Allied Zurich plc in the United Kingdom and Zurich Allied AG in Switzerland). In 2000, that structure was unified to form a single holding company called Zurich Financial Services.
|
|
|
|
Official website |
|
TOP 5 |
|
Generali:
Generali is one of the largest insurance companies in Europe. It has its headquarters in Trieste, Italy.
The company was founded on 26 December 1831 under the name of (Imperial Regia Privilegiata Compagnia di) Assicurazioni Generali Austro-Italiche in Trieste. Trieste was the most significant seaport of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in those days and the company flourished on that location, becoming one of the largest insurance operators in Italy as well as in Central Europe.
Generali now operates mostly in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, with large market shares in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China Croatia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland; and with secondary operations in Latin America, e.g. in Panama.
Future Generali, a joint venture between Future Group and Assicurazioni Generali, represents the company in India.
In Italy subsidiaries of the group include: Alleanza-Toro, Assitalia, Europ-Assistance, Fata Assicurazioni, Genertel and INA and Assitalia.
|
|
|
|
Official website |
|
|
|
|