Assurant

Assurant, Inc.
Public
Traded as NYSE: AIZ
S&P 500 Component
Industry Insurance
Founded 1892
Headquarters 28 Liberty St
New York City, New York, U.S.
Key people
 Alan B. Colberg (President and CEO)[1]
Revenue IncreaseUS$ 10.38 billion (FY 2014)[2]
DecreaseUS$ 470.9 million (FY 2014)[2]
Total assets IncreaseUS$31.562 billion (FY 2014)[2]
Total equity IncreaseUS$4.778 billion (FY 2014)[2]
Number of employees
 approximately 17,500 (2014)
Website assurant.com

Assurant, Inc. is a holding company with headquarters in New York City. Its businesses provide a diverse set of specialty, niche-market insurance products in the property, casualty, life and health insurance sectors. The company’s two operating segments are 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.[3][4]

Assurant is 285 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States.[5]

History

Assurant can trace its roots back to the 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.[6] 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, now Assurant Solutions); United Family (funeral insurance, now Assurant Solutions - Preneed Division); Western Insurance Company (mutual funds, now part of Assurant Employee Benefits); and Superior Insurance (auto insurance).[7] 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.[8] In 1991, AMEV acquired the group life, accident and health insurance of Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company (now part of Assurant Employee Benefits).[9] AMEV Holdings, Inc. was rebranded Fortis, Inc. in 1991. Superior Insurance was sold in 1996.[10] Fortis acquired John Alden in 1998 and American Bankers Insurance in 1999.[11][12]

Fortis' American business was subsequently renamed as Assurant and spun off from the parent company in 2004.[13][14]

On June 10, 2015, Assurant Health’s parent company, Assurant, Inc., announced an exit from the health insurance marketplace to focus on housing and lifestyle specialty protection products and services.[15] Sun Life Financial acquired Assurant Employee Benefits for $940 million in September,[16] and in October, Assurant announced it had completed the sale of certain assets and business lines of Assurant Health to National General Holdings Corporation.[17] National General will acquire Assurant Health’s existing supplemental and self-funded business lines.[18] Assurant will wind down its major medical operations and not participate in the next Affordable Care Act open enrollment period beginning in November 2015.[15][17]

Operations

Assurant operates two main businesses:

Assurant Health policy claim denials and cancellations

Assurant Health (now owned by National General Holdings Corp)[17] was repeatedly found to cancel health policies for some customers that had serious medical conditions, and 12 states criticized the firm for denying claims, with most of the states levying fines against Assurant.[21][22][23] A number of individual cases have been reported.

In September 2009, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s verdict and ordered the firm (then known as "Fortis") to pay $10 million to a policyholder, who had contracted HIV subsequent to getting an insurance policy. In court proceedings, it was revealed that the company's policy was to target every policyholder recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation, as the company searched for any pretext to revoke ("rescind") their policy. As in that case, their insurance policies often were canceled on incorrect information, flimsy evidence, or for no reason at all.[24] In February 2010, a Boulder, Colorado jury found that Assurant Health had breached its contract with a woman who was severely injured in a hit-and-run accident, and awarded her $183,551 for medical bills and approximately $37.1 million in punitive damages. This was described as "one of the largest bad-faith judgments in Colorado history".[25] In March 2010, the United States Supreme Court rejected the firm's appeal of a lower court’s ruling that awarded $10 million to another customer whose policy was cancelled by the company when he tested positive for HIV.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "Management Committee". Assurant.com. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Assurant 2014 Annual Report & Form 10-K" (PDF). Assurant.com. Assurant, Inc. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Dutch insurer Amev is buying VSB Groep NV bank
  4. ↑ Assurant’s IPO Debut Leads Quintet
  5. ↑ Fortune 500 list
  6. ↑ Usher, Ellis, Wisconsin: Its Story and Biography 1848-1913, Vol. 8, p. 2297
  7. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/28/business/business-people-new-top-posts-filled-by-amev-holdings.html Cuff, Daniel (November 28, 1990). “New Top Posts Filled By AMEV Holdings.” The New York Times.
  8. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-01-23/business/9001060788_1_netherlands-insurer-amev (January 23, 1990). “Dutch insurer Amev is buying VSB Groep NV bank for...” Chicago Tribune online
  9. ↑ ZONANA, VICTOR F. (1991-08-01). "Ailing Mutual Benefit Sells Off Units to AMEV". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  10. ↑ FORTIS, INC. TO SELL U.S. AUTO INSURANCE AFFILIATE
  11. ↑ "Fortis To Acquire John Alden". Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  12. ↑ Fortis completes acquisition of American Bankers Insurance Group (ABI)
  13. ↑ http://www.insuranceinsider.com/Fortis-to-spin-off-US-insurance-arm (September 1, 2003) “Fortis to spin-off US insurance arm.” The Insurance Insider.
  14. ↑ "SEC Complaint: Assurant, Inc." (PDF). Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  15. 1 2 http://www.assuranthealth.com/about-assurant-health/news-articles/assurant-to-exit-health-insurance-market-to-support-specialty-protection-products-and-services (June 10, 2015) “Assurant to Exit Health Insurance Market to Support Strategic Focus on Housing and Lifestyle Specialty Protection Products and Services” Press Release. Retrieved October 25, 2015
  16. ↑ Dmitrieva, Katia. "Sun Life to Buy Assurant Unit With $975 Million Investment". Bloomberg. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 Marshall, Erin (2 Oct 2015). "Assurant completes sale of business lines to National General Holdings Corp.". Becker's Hospital Review. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  18. ↑ http://www.assuranthealth.com/about-assurant-health/news-articles/ng-announcement (October 1, 2015) “Assurant Completes Sale of Supplemental and Small Group Self-Funded Health Insurance Business Lines to National General Holdings Corp.” Press Release. Retrieved October 25, 2015
  19. ↑ Assurant Solutions website
  20. ↑ Assurant Specialty Property description via BusinessWeek
  21. ↑ http://google.com/search?q=cache:jRwHVdE_eLMJ:www.ct.gov/oha State of Connecticut Office of the Healthcare Advocate
  22. ↑ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-tue-problem-insurance-0929sep29,0,1926150.column Chicago Tribune, After aneurysm, Assurant Health causes further headaches, 29 Sept 2009
  23. ↑ http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2007/03/05/daily16.html?from_rss=1 Business Jrnl of Milwaukee, Oregon Regulators slap fine on Assurant Health, March 6, 2007
  24. ↑ "Insurer target HIV patients to drop coverage". Reuters. March 17, 2010.
  25. ↑ http://www.westword.com/content/printVersion/1400288
  26. ↑ Insurance News, Supreme Court Rejects Assurant’s Appeal, March 24, 2010, http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=174515

External links

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