Zurich Insurance Group (ZURN), commonly known as Zurich, is a Swiss insurance company with head office located in Zurich , in Switzerland . Zurich Insurance Group is the largest insurance company in Switzerland. In 2013, Zurich was the 75th world's largest listed company by Global 2000 ranking Forbes and was on the 94th place in the ranking of the top 100 brands in 2011 Interbrandsen.
Zurich Insurance Group is a global insurance company organized around three major divisions: General Insurance, Global Life and Farmers. The company has about 60,000 employees on over 170 countries and territories worldwide.
Zurich Insurance Group is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. In 2012 the Group's equity amounted to 34.494 billion dollars.
HISTORY
The company was founded in 1872 as a maritime reinsurance company called "Versicherungs-Verein" (Insurance Association), a subsidiary of Schweiz Marine Company. In 1875, Zurich is geared towards accident insurance and changed its name to Transport- und Unfall-Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft "Zürich" . In 1880, Zurich withdrew from the maritime insurance market after suffering a significant loss. In 1894, Zurich is changing its name to "Zürich" Unfall- Allgemeine Versicherungs-und Haftpflicht-Aktiengesellschaft .
Zurich headquarters - then known as "Zürich" Allgemeine Unfall- und Haftpflicht-Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft - in Zurich around 1905.
In 1912, Zurich obtained the necessary permits to start operations in the United States . In 1915, Zurich buys for the first time a company in its entirety, the company Hispania Compania General de Seguros, based on Barcelona.
In 1922, Zurich entered the UK general insurance market as the first foreign accident insurance company to deal directly with customers. Zurich founded VITA Assurances Vie in Switzerland.
In 1925, Zurich became the official insurance company for all new Ford cars sold in the UK. In 1929, Zurich created the insurance Fire Insurance Company in New York . In 1939, Zurich founded the American Guarantee and Liability Company in New York.
In 1955, Zurich became the sole wholesale insurance broker and changed its name to Zurich Insurance Company. In 1976, Zurich founded the International Division. In 1978, Zurich created Risk Engineering. In 1986, Zurich obtains a license to conduct insurance business in Japan . In 1996 Zurich founded Zurich Capital Markets.
In 1997, Zurich acquires a controlling interest in Scudder, Stevens & Clark, New York, a financial services company only, with no insurance business. In 1998, Zurich merged with the financial division of the British company BAT and became Zurich Financial Services.
In 2010, Zurich was listed for the first time in the Interbrand ranking of the world's leading brands. In 2003, Zurich Way was launched to standardize fundamental business processes and share best practices.
In April 2012, Zurich Financial Services changed its name to Zurich Insurance Group. The purpose of this change is to reflect the rationalization of Zurich's business portfolio over the last few years to focus on insurance activities. The group justified this change of name in a statement. "In order to recognize this strategic axis, the reference to financial services in the name of the company has been replaced by an indication of the Group's insurance activities in order to make the objective of the company clearer.
In July 2015, Zurich Insurance announces its desire to launch an offer to acquire RSA Insurance Group for $ 5.6 billion books, but announced in September 2015, abandon this operation after a deterioration in his including financial results related to the Tianjin explosions in 2015.
In December 2015, Zurich Insurance Group acquired for $ 1.05 billion Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS), a subsidiary of Wells Fargo specialized in agricultural insurance.
In December 2016, Zurich Insurance Group announces the acquisition of Cover-More Group, an Australian company that specializes in travel insurance for $ 551 million.
