History of American General Life Insurance Company

 The story of American General Life Companies (American General) began in 1925 when the Texas Commission of Appeals produced a historic ruling that enabled insurance organizations to underwrite both property and casualty insurance. Our founder, Gus S. Wortham, had operated a profitable insurance agency in Houston in 1915 and had a vision for such a company. With the backing of his father and quite a few prominent organization associates, he launched the American Common Insurance Provider on May well 8, 1926, 1 of the very first multi-line insurance businesses inside the nation. Three years later, American General declared its very first dividend.

In 1945, American Common completed the first of its own strategic acquisitions, Seaboard Life Insurance Organization, making American General the only business in the southern United States to underwrite fire, life, automobile and casualty insurance. One other acquisition in 1953 in Omaha marked American General's very first expansion outside Texas. All through the 1960s and early 1970s, businesses in Maryland, New York and Tennessee followed. By 1968, American General had reached $1 billion in total assets and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Reassure America Life Insurance Company

Within the late 1970s, American Common acquired The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Corporation (VALIC), which marked American General's expansion into the retirement savings marketplace. VALIC's co-founders spearheaded the introduction of variable annuities, a visionary method that has resulted in a trillion-dollar business today.

In 1982, American General initiated its consumer finance operations, which have subsequently grown into one of the company's important company segments. Later that year, American Common completed the largest acquisition inside the history of the life insurance market at that time, using the $1.five billion acquire in the National Life and Accident Insurance Corporation, that is now American General Life and Accident Insurance Organization. This transformed American Common into a focused financial services organization emphasizing retirement services, life insurance and consumer finance.

The economic services industry underwent dramatic regulatory modifications, heightened competition and consolidation in the 1990s. In 1994, American General Life Insurance Company acquired 40 percent of Western National Corporation, the nation's leading provider of retirement annuities sold by way of monetary institutions. In 1995, American General completed the $1.2 billion acquisition in the Franklin Life Insurance Business, adding the Springfield, Illinois-based insurer to its network. One more crucial milestone occurred in 1997 with the $1.8 billion acquisition of New York-based United States Life Corporation. And when the remainder of Western National was acquired in 1998, American General became the third-largest writer of individual annuities inside the nation.

On August 29, 2001, American International Group, Inc. acquired American Common. Its member organizations write a wide range of general insurance and life insurance products for commercial, institutional and individual customers by means of several different distribution channels in roughly 130 nations and jurisdictions all through the globe. Right now, American General Life Firms is poised for robust growth within the 21st century.