Transamerica Corporation
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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Insurance Investments Retirement planning |
Founded | 1928 |
Headquarters | Baltimore, MD, US |
Number of locations | 3,000 (estimated) |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | A.P. Giannini, founder Will Fuller, CEO |
Products | Life insurance, Investment & Retirement services |
Number of employees | 25,000 (2018) |
Parent | Aegon |
Website | www |
The Transamerica Corporation is an American holding company for various life insurance companies and investment firms operating primarily in the United States, offering life and supplemental health insurance, investments, and retirement services. The company has major offices located in Baltimore, Maryland; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Denver, Colorado; Norwood, Massachusetts; Exton, Pennsylvania; Harrison, New York; Johns Creek, Georgia; Plano, Texas; and St. Petersburg, Florida. Additional affiliated offices are located throughout the United States. In 1999, it became an independent subsidiary of multinational company Aegon.[1]
Transamerica funds the Transamerica Institute, a nonprofit foundation which comprises the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Transamerica Center for Health Studies.[2]
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Transamerica_building_san_francisco.jpg/200px-Transamerica_building_san_francisco.jpg)
In October 1904, A.P. Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco.[3][4] In October 1928, Giannini created a holding company that he named the Trans-America Corporation, which owned Bank of America, Bank of Italy, Bancitaly Corporation, National Bankitaly Company, California Joint Stock Land Bank, and Banca d'America e d'Italia , which gave it assets in excess of $1.5 billion (equivalent to $27 billion in 2023).[5][6][5][7][8][9] The Trans-America Corporation original headquarters was located at 4 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco.[10] The Bank of Italy later merged with Bank of America, Los Angeles in 1928, which was then renamed Bank of America in 1930.[3][11]
In March 1930, Transamerica acquired Occidental Life Insurance Company, founded in 1906.[12] At the time, Occidental had over $25 million in assets and over $150 million in life insurance policies in force.[12] Giannini said the purchase of the West Coast-based life insurance company was part of a plan for Transamerica to control every type of financial service.[12] Following the acquisition, Occidental was renamed Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company.[13]
Over time, the company became a more diversified conglomerate that included the film distributor United Artists,[14] Transamerica Airlines and Budget Rent a Car.[15]
In 1972, the company completed construction of the Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper in San Francisco which served as its headquarters for many years. Although the company currently retains only a few offices in the building, the pyramid is still depicted in the company's logo and marketing materials.[16]
In the 1980s, Transamerica began to divest and focused exclusively on financial services.[17] It was eventually reduced to three main product divisions: insurance, investments, and retirement planning. In July 1999, Transamerica CEO Frank C. Herringer announced that Aegon, the Netherlands-based insurer, would acquire the company.[18] Transamerica Occidental merged into Transamerica Life Insurance Company on October 1, 2008.
Products and services
Transamerica primarily offers insurance and financial services. Types of life and health insurance policies offered include term life, whole life, universal life, variable universal life, accidental death,[19] Medicare supplement, and long-term care.[20] Transamerica companies also offer a variety of mutual funds and annuities.[21] Transamerica has over 15,000 licensed insurance agents just in the state of California.
Transamerica's retirement division offers defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution retirement plans,[22] including 401(k) and 403(b), 457, profit sharing, money purchase, cash balance, Taft-Hartley, multiple employer plans, nonqualified deferred compensation, and rollover individual retirement accounts. Other services include plan-level record keeping and administrative services, participant communications and education services, fiduciary risk mitigation services, open investment architecture, and compliance guidance and regulatory support.[23]
In December 2020, Transamerica announced it would no longer sell variable annuities with benefit riders and fixed index annuities and is also exiting the standalone long-term care market.[24][25][26]
Sponsorships
Transamerica is a long-time sponsor of Cedar Rapids native and 12-time PGA Tour winner Zach Johnson.[27][28] Transamerica also sponsors Kyle Stanley,[29] 2009 Open Championship winner Stewart Cink, and Azahara Munoz, in addition to the American Junior Golf Association and its annual Transamerica Scholastic Junior All-America teams.[30]
With a large employee presence in Denver, Transamerica in 2015 became the shirt sponsor of the Colorado Rapids, winners of the 2010 MLS Cup. Transamerica has an additional sponsorship agreement with Rapids and United States national team goalkeeper Tim Howard.[30]
Transamerica currently collaborates with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, as well as the American Heart Association.[30][31]
Foundations
Transamerica funds two foundations: the Aegon Transamerica Foundation and the Transamerica Institute. It created the Aegon Transamerica Foundation in 1994 to provide financial grants to community non-profit organizations. Transamerica employees also volunteer services to these organizations.[32] The foundation received the Corporate Citizenship Award in 2013 for creating the first urban farm in Iowa.[33]
The Transamerica Institute consists of two divisions: the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Transamerica Center for Health Studies. The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies researches and provides education on trends, issues, and opportunities related to saving and planning for retirement.[34] The Transamerica Center for Health Studies focuses on identifying, researching, and analyzing health care issues facing consumers and employers.[35] The Transamerica Institute is funded by contributions from Transamerica Life Insurance Company.[36]
See also
References
- ^ Tagliabue, John (February 19, 1999). "Big Dutch Insurer to Acquire Transamerica for $9.7 Billion". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "About Transamerica Institute". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Newcomers". They Made America. June 9, 2004. PBS. WGBH-TV.
- ^ "History". Transamerica. October 1, 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
- ^ a b "Dover Charter Joins Giannini Corporations". Associated Press. The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware). October 12, 1928. p. 26.
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ "Giant Giannini Corporation Being Formed". United Press International. The Times (San Mateo, California). October 12, 1928. p. 3.
- ^ Scott, H. S. (October 14, 1928). "Stocks Do Little in Short Session: Bank of America, Marchant, Dairydale B Show Gains List as Whole is Firm". Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California). p. 54.
- ^ "Gigantic Institution to Acquire Control of Giannini Enterprises: Transamerica Corporation Being Forms to Own Financial Firms". Associated Press. Los Angeles Evening Express. October 24, 1928. p. 27.
- ^ "San Francisco Landmark #52: Fugazi Bank Building". noehill.com. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
- ^ "World's biggest bank (Fortune Classics, 1947)". Fortune. Archived from the original on March 25, 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
- ^ a b c "Transamerica Buys Big Firm". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. March 25, 1930. p. 3.
- ^ "Company Profile: Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company". California Department of Insurance. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ International Directory of Company Histories. Vol. 25. St. James Press. January 1, 1999. pp. 326–330. ISBN 978-1558623675. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Budget Car Rental Corporate History". Budget Rent A Car.
- ^ "Pyramid Facts". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Zonana, Victor F. (January 31, 1986). "Transamerica Plans to Divest Units: Will Sell Air Travel, Auto Rental, Manufacturing Firms". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Aegon buys Transamerica". CNNMoney. February 18, 1999. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Products: Life Insurance". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Products: Medicare Solutiona". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Individual". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Aegon acquires Mercer's US defined contribution record-keeping business" (Press release). Aegon. September 21, 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Retirement Solutions". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Transamerica Latest To Exit VAs With Benefits, FIAs". InsuranceNewsNet. December 16, 2020.
- ^ Partners, LTCI. "Transamerica Exiting the Standalone LTC Market". www.ltcipartners.com.
- ^ "Transamerica to halt sales of VAs with guarantees, fixed annuities". December 14, 2020.
- ^ "Professional Golf Sponsorships Zach Johnson". transamerica.com. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ "Partners". zachjohnsongolf.com. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ "Professional Golf Sponsorships Kyle Stanley". transamerica.com. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ a b c "Sponsorships". transamerica.com. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ "At MIT, experts devote a day to talking caregiving". heart.org. American Heart Association. 7 Jan 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ "Aegon Transamerica Foundation". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Ford, George (November 21, 2013). "Transamerica wins award for Time Check 'urban farm'". The Gazette. Cedar Rapids. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Gladych, Paula Aven (December 4, 2015). "Few employees aware of retirement transition benefits". Employee Benefit News. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Sammer, Joanne (November 9, 2015). "'Carving Out' Spousal Benefits: Cost-Cutting, with Repercussions". Society for Human Resource Management.
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(help) - ^ "About Transamerica Institute". Transamerica. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
External links
- Holding companies of the United States
- Life insurance companies of the United States
- Investment companies of the United States
- Companies based in Baltimore
- History of San Francisco
- Holding companies established in 1928
- Financial services companies established in 1928
- American companies established in 1928
- 1999 mergers and acquisitions
- American subsidiaries of foreign companies
- Holding companies disestablished in 1999
- Defunct companies of Palau