The Transamerica Corporation is an American

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

for various

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...

companies and

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

firms operating primarily in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, offering life and supplemental

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

, investments, and

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

services. The company has major offices located in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

;

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

;

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

;

Norwood, Massachusetts Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Norwood is part of the Greater Boston area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,611. The town was named after Norwood, England. Norwood is ...

;

Exton, Pennsylvania Exton is a census-designated place (CDP) in West Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population was 5,622 at the 2020 census. The Exton Square Mall and Main Street at Exton are both located within Exton along w ...

;

Harrison, New York Harrison is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, northeast of Manhattan. The population was 28,218 at the 2020 census. History Harrison was established in 1696 by a patent granted by the British government to John Harrison a ...

;

Johns Creek, Georgia Johns Creek is a city in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. According to the 2020 census, the population was 82,453. The city is a northeastern suburb of Atlanta. History In the early 19th century, the Johns Creek area was dotted with t ...

;

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hist ...

; and

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. Additional affiliated offices are located throughout the United States. In 1999, it became an independent subsidiary of multinational company Aegon. Transamerica funds the Transamerica Institute, a nonprofit foundation which comprises the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Transamerica Center for Health Studies.

History

In October 1904, A.P. Giannini founded the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy ( Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's cur ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. In October 1928, Giannini created a

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 , which gave it assets in excess of $1.5billion (equivalent to $billion in ).Dover Charter Joins Giannini Corporations
. ''Associated Press''. The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware). October 12, 1928. p. 26. The Trans-America Corporation original headquarters was located at 4 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco. The Bank of Italy later merged with

Bank of America, Los Angeles The Bank of America, Los Angeles, was established in 1923 by Orra E. Monnette, emerging from a series of mergers between Los Angeles–based banks between 1909 and 1923. The formation of BoA L.A. predates the creation of the Bank of America, mergi ...

in 1928, which was then renamed

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

in 1930. In March 1930, Transamerica acquired Occidental Life Insurance Company, founded in 1906.Transamerica Buys Big Firm
. ''Los Angeles Evening Post-Record''. March 25, 1930. p. 3. At the time, Occidental had over $25million in assets and over $150million in life insurance policies in force. 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. Following the acquisition, Occidental was renamed Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company. Over time, the company became a more diversified conglomerate that included the

film distributor A film distributor is responsible for the Film promotion, marketing of a film. The distribution company may be the same with, or different from, the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film. The distributo ...

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

Transamerica Airlines Trans International Airlines (TIA) was an airline that offered charter service from and within the United States. It also operated scheduled passenger service flying as Transamerica Airlines as well as charter flights during its last decade. Its ...

and

Budget Rent a Car Budget Rent a Car is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget is a subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group, with its operations headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. History ...

. In 1972, the company completed construction of the

Transamerica Pyramid The Transamerica Pyramid is a 48-story futurist skyscraper in San Francisco, California, United States, and the second tallest building in the San Francisco skyline. Located at 600 Montgomery Street between Clay and Washington Streets in the ci ...

skyscraper in

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. In the 1980s, Transamerica began to divest and focused exclusively on financial services. 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 ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

-based insurer, would acquire the company. Transamerica Occidental merged into Transamerica Life Insurance Company on October 1, 2008.

Products and services

Transamerica primarily offers

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

and

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

. Types of life and health insurance policies offered include term life, whole life, universal life, variable universal life, accidental death,

Medicare supplement Medigap (also called Medicare supplement insurance or Medicare supplemental insurance) refers to various private health insurance plans sold to supplement Medicare in the United States. Medigap insurance provides coverage for many of the co-pays ...

, and long-term care. Transamerica companies also offer a variety of mutual funds and annuities. Transamerica has over 15,00
licensed insurance agents
just in the state of California. Transamerica's retirement division offers

defined benefit pension plans Defined benefit (DB) pension plan is a type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified pension payment, lump-sum, or combination thereof on retirement that depends on an employee's earnings history, tenure of service and age ...

and defined contribution retirement plans, 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 An individual retirement account (IRA) in the United States is a form of pension provided by many financial institutions that provides tax advantages for retirement savings. It is a trust that holds investment assets purchased with a taxpayer's e ...

. 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. 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.

Sponsorships

Transamerica is a long-time sponsor of Cedar Rapids native and 12-time

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

winner

Zach Johnson Zachary Harris Johnson (born February 24, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has 12 victories on the PGA Tour, including two major championships, the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open Championship. In 2023, Johnson will captain the U. ...

. Transamerica also sponsors

Kyle Stanley Kyle Stanley (born November 19, 1987) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Stanley was born in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was a 2002 graduate of St. Charles Borromeo elementary and middle school and a 20 ...

2009 Open Championship The 2009 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 138th Open Championship, held from 16–19 July at the Ailsa Course of the Turnberry Resort, in Ayrshire, Scotland. Stewart Cink won his only major championship after a f ...

winner Stewart Cink, and Azahara Munoz, in addition to the

American Junior Golf Association The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) is a "501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf." AJGA is conside ...

and its annual Transamerica Scholastic Junior All-America teams. With a large employee presence in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Transamerica in 2015 became the shirt sponsor of the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

, winners of the 2010 MLS Cup. Transamerica has an additional sponsorship agreement with Rapids and United States national team goalkeeper Tim Howard. Transamerica currently collaborates with the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

AgeLab, as well as the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

Foundations

Transamerica funds two

foundations Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

: 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. The foundation received the Corporate Citizenship Award in 2013 for creating the first

urban farm Urban agriculture, urban farming, or urban gardening is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around urban areas. It encompasses a complex and diverse mix of food production activities, including fisheries and fo ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. 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. The Transamerica Center for Health Studies focuses on identifying, researching, and analyzing health care issues facing consumers and employers. The Transamerica Institute is funded by contributions from Transamerica Life Insurance Company.

References

External links