Transamerica Corporation

La Transamerica Corporation est une holding américaine de sociétés d'assurance-vie et d'investissement dont l'activité se concentre essentiellement aux États-Unis.

Histoire

La Transamerica est fondée en 1928 par A. P. Giannini comme une holding de la Bank of America, dont il est le président^[1]. As part of his vision of providing financial services to the general public, Giannini acquired Occidental Life Insurance Company through Transamerica Corporation in 1930. Occidental had first opened its doors to customers in 1906, and became prominent in the life insurance business on the West Coast.

Transamerica, which also owned the Occidental Life Insurance Company (renamed Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company in the early 1980s), intended to create a nationwide bank. However, in 1956, because of the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act, Transamerica Corporation divested itself of its banking concerns, which were spun off as Firstamerica Corporation. This left Transamerica with life insurance and property and casualty insurance operations.

Durant les vingt années suivantes, la Transamerica devient progressivement un conglomérat diversifié dont les filiales comprennent United Artists, Transamerica Airlines, Budget Rent a Car, De Laval Turbine, etc. Mais elle souffrait du manque de notoriété et n’était pas du tout connue des Américains : pour pallier ce déficit de reconnaissance, elle voulut faire parler d’elle en construisant la Transamerica Pyramid.

La Transamerica Pyramid à San Francisco

In 1972, construction of the Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper in San Francisco was completed. The company's headquarters was located in the building for many years, although today it retains only a small presence in the building. Nevertheless, the company's logo still depicts the iconic building and the firm continues the pyramid logo on its marketing materials.

Dans les années 1980, Transamerica a vendu toutes ses activités qui n'étaient pas liées à son cœur de métier de l'assurance et d'autres services financiers.

In the early 1990s, the company briefly entered the UK market^{[citation nécessaire]}.

In July 1999, with Frank C. Herringer as CEO, Transamerica Corporation was acquired by AEGON^[1], an insurance holding company based in the Netherlands. Transamerica Finance, responsible for commercial lending, was subsequently sold to GE Commercial Finance in 2003.

As part of subsequent consolidation efforts Transamerica announced in early January 2007 that it would be closing its location in downtown Kansas City (Missouri) and would be moving the functions performed there to offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa^[2].

Situation actuelle

Aujourd'hui, les produits de la Transamerica sont distribués par les filiales suivantes :

• Transamerica Capital Inc.

• Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group

• Transamerica Investment Management LLC

• Transamerica Reinsurance

• Transamerica Retirement Services

• Transamerica Worksite Marketing.

Voir aussi

• Transamerica Pyramid

Liens externes

• (en) Site officiel de la Transamerica Corporation
• (en) Site de l'Insurance Marketplace Standards Association

Notes et références

1. ↑ ^{a et b} (en) Histoire, publié par Transamerica le 10 janvier 2008, consulté le 4 février 2009
2. ↑ http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2007/01/08/daily35.html