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Allstate
Allstate sells 13 major lines of insurance,
including
auto insurance,
home insurance,
life insurance, and
commercial insurance. Allstate also
offers retirement and investment products, and banking
services.
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Farmers Insurance Group
The Farmers
Insurance Group of Companies is a
personal lines property and casualty insurance group providing homeowners
insurance, auto insurance,
life insurance, and financial services in the United
States. It is the third largest insurance group in the US servicing over 10
million households in 41 states. While Farmers Group Inc. is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services, it is locally headquartered in Los
Angeles, California.
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GEICO
The Government Employees Insurance Company,
usually known by the acronym GEICO, is an American
auto insurance company. GEICO
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that as of 2007 provided
coverage for more than 10 million motor vehicles owned by more than 9 million
policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger
automobile insurance in the
District of Columbia and in all 50 U.S. states. The company is notable for its
copious television advertising, with several prominent campaigns running
simultaneously in national markets. Its mascot is a gecko that originally had an
American accent but for marketing reasons was changed to a Cockney accent.
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Insurance Bureau of Canada
Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national
industry association representing Canada’s private home, car and business
insurers. Its member companies represent nearly 95% of the property and casualty
(P&C) insurance market in Canada.
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Insurance Information Institute
The Insurance Information Institute ("i.i.i.")
is a U.S. industry organization which exists "to improve public understanding of
insurance -- what it does and how it works." The I.I.I. web site provides
information for consumers, the media, researchers and the general public on a
wide range of topics, including automobile insurance, homeowners insurance, life
insurance, annuities, health insurance, long-term care insurance and disability
insurance.
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Insurance Institute
The Insurance Institute, with its network of 21
provincial Institutes and local Chapters, is the educational arm of the property
and casualty
insurance industry, representing 35,000 individuals across Canada.
Of those members, 20,000 are students and more than 15,000 are graduates who
have earned the Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation or Fellow
Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) designation.
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Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
Nationwide Mutual
Insurance Company &
Affiliated Companies is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services
companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional
headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa and San Antonio, Texas.
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Progressive Corporation
The Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR), known
as the Progressive Casualty Insurance Company through its subsidiaries, provides
personal automobile insurance, and other specialty property-casualty insurance
and related services in the United States.
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State Farm Insurance
State Farm Insurance is a group of insurance
and financial services companies. It is the largest automobile insurer in the
United States continuously since 1942 and insures more cars and homes in the
United States than any other insurer. The group's main company is State Farm
Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, a mutual insurance firm that also owns the
other State Farm companies. The corporate headquarters are in Bloomington,
Illinois.
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Insurance :
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Insurance, in law and
economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk
of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer
of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An
insurer is a company selling the insurance; an insured or policyholder is the
person or entity buying the insurance policy. The
insurance rate is a factor
used to determine the amount to be charged for a certain amount of insurance
coverage, called the premium. Risk management, the practice of appraising and
controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.
The transaction involves the insured assuming a guaranteed and known relatively
small loss in the form of payment to the insurer in exchange for the insurer's
promise to compensate (indemnify) the insured in the case of a large, possibly
devastating loss. The insured receives a contract called the
insurance policy
which details the conditions and circumstances under which the insured will be
compensated.
Insurance involves pooling funds from many insured entities (known as exposures)
in order to pay for relatively uncommon but severely devastating losses which
can occur to these entities. The insured entities are therefore protected from
risk for a fee, with the fee being dependent upon the frequency and severity of
the event occurring. In order to be insurable, the risk insured against must
meet certain characteristics in order to be an insurable risk. Insurance is a
commercial enterprise and a major part of the financial services industry, but
individual entities can also self-insure through saving money for possible
future losses.
Global insurance premiums grew by 3.4% in 2008 to reach $4.3 trillion. For the
first time in the past three decades, premium income declined in
inflation-adjusted terms, with non-life premiums falling by 0.8% and life
premiums falling by 3.5%. The insurance industry is exposed to the global
economic downturn on the assets side by the decline in returns on investments
and on the liabilities side by a rise in claims. So far the extent of losses on
both sides has been limited although investment returns fell sharply following
the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and bailout of AIG in September 2008. The
financial crisis has shown that the insurance sector is sufficiently
capitalised. The vast majority of
insurance companies had enough capital to
absorb losses and only a small number turned to government for support.
Advanced economies account for the bulk of global insurance. With premium income
of $1,753bn, Europe was the most important region in 2008, followed by North
America $1,346bn and Asia $933bn. The top four countries generated more than a
half of premiums. The US and Japan alone accounted for 40% of world insurance,
much higher than their 7% share of the global population. Emerging markets
accounted for over 85% of the world’s population but generated only around 10%
of premiums. Their markets are however growing at a quicker pace.
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