Company Profile
Transamerica Reinsurance
Company Overview
www.transamericareinsurance.com
Company History
Transamerica began as the vision of a young entrepreneur named A. P. Giannini, who took the first step towards realizing his dream by starting a small business known as the Bank of Italy. (That company later became Bank of America, with whom, coincidentally, we share our home office city of Charlotte and our building.)
As part of his long-range 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 had established itself as a major force in the life insurance business on the West Coast.
In 1956, Congress passed the Bank Holding Company Act, which prohibited a company from owning both banking and nonbanking entities. The company decided to divest itself of its bank holdings and keep its core life insurance businesses and related services under the Transamerica name.
The 1960s and 1970s were marked by a flurry of creativity and acquisition activity for Transamerica. In addition to building the Transamerica Pyramid, an architectural landmark in the heart of San Francisco’s financial district, the company began diversifying, branching out into a number of businesses that focused on providing leisure services to consumers.
During this period of growth, Transamerica owned—in addition to its core life insurance and financial services businesses—the prominent motion picture distributor United Artists, Trans International Airlines and Budget Rent A Car.
In the mid-1980s, Transamerica focused its resources on what has always been the core of the company—its insurance and financial services businesses. The company sold all unrelated operations and acquired several financial services companies that would strengthen this core.
In 1992, Transamerica Reinsurance established its main marketing office in Charlotte, NC, relocating from Los Angeles, CA. In July of 1999, Transamerica began a new chapter in its history when it became part of one of the world’s leading international organizations—AEGON N.V.