Zurich Financial Services:
Zurich Financial Services Group is a major financial services group based in Zürich, Switzerland.
[edit] History
The Company was founded in 1872 as subsidiary of the Schweiz Marine Insurance Company under the name Versicherung Verein (Insurance Club).[1] The Company changed its name to Zurich Marine and Accident Insurance in 1875[1] and to Zurich General Accident and Liability Insurance in 1894.[1] In 1998 the Company acquired British American Financial Services, a business owned by BAT Industries comprising Eagle Star (acquired in 1984), Allied Dunbar (acquired in 1985) and the Farmers Group, Inc. (acquired in 1988), for $18.6 billion.[2]
[edit] Operations
Zurich offices on King Street in Leeds.
[edit] Europe
In Europe, Zurich's key markets are Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. Zurich have major offices in many of the major financial cities in these countries including, London, Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, Frankfurt, Rome, Milan and the headquarters in Zurich.
[edit] North America
The US consumer market is served primarily by Farmers Insurance Group the third largest personal lines property & casualty insurance group in America. Founded in 1928, the Farmers Exchanges and their subsidiaries, which are Zurich managed but not Zurich owned, operate in 41 states through a network of 17,000 exclusive agents and 1,100 independent agents.
The Chicago area-based Zurich North America is the third largest provider of commercial property-casualty insurance in North America, serving small business, mid-size markets and large corporate customers. In 2005, Zurich North America Commercial produced gross written premiums of USD 12.5 billion.
Other Zurich companies in North America include:
[edit] International
Zurich's International Businesses division includes operations in Latin America, Asia Pacific and Southern Africa.
[edit] Criticism
In 2006, Zurich Financial Services settled a $171 million case relating to bid rigging and price fixing.[3] "Businesses shopping for commercial insurance were deceived into believing they were getting the best deals available," said Abbott. "The whole anti-competitive scheme was an intentional smoke screen by several insurance players to artificially inflate premiums and pay improper commissions to those who brokered the deals." The states included in the settlement were Texas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Zurich is also required to pay about $122 million[4] in refunds to commercial policyholders in a New Jersey class action lawsuit[5] settlement.
Zurich Financial Services settled a bid-rigging and improper "finite reinsurance" transactions probe.[6] Zurich Financial agreed to pay $153 million in restitution and penalties and agreed to a series of reforms. Zurich apologized and acknowledged that "certain of its employees violated both acceptable business practices and Zurich's own standards of conduct by engaging in improper bidding practices and the ‘finite reinsurance’ transactions described in the Assurance of Discontinuance." The states included in the settlement were New York, Connecticut and Illinois.
In May 2007, Zurich Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services, paid $16.8 million to settle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for helping four hedge funds disguise their identities to avoid detection when making frequent trades in mutual fund shares.[7] An SEC director stated, “By knowingly financing their hedge funds clients' deceptive market timing, ZCM reaped substantial fees at the expense of long-term mutual-fund shareholders" [8]
On May 5th 2008 Zurich announced a further 900 job losses in the general insurance sector of their UK operation.[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Zurich Financial Services: Timeline
- ^ Zurich to pay BAT $18.6bn for finance units
- ^ Zurich, 9 States Settle Bid-Rigging Case for $171 Million: "Texas and eight other states have reached a $171 million settlement with Zurich American Insurance Co. relating to bid-rigging and price-fixing in the commercial insurance market."
- ^ Zurich American Implements Reforms, Pays Consumers Millions
- ^ Insurance Brokerage Antitrust Litigation Zurich Settlement: "This website provides general information on the Zurich class action settlement ."
- ^ Zurich Settles Bid-Rigging Probe: "Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and State Insurance Department Superintendent Howard Mills today announced an agreement with one of the world’s largest insurance companies to resolve allegations of bid-rigging and improper "finite reinsurance" transactions."
- ^ Zurich Financial Settles US Market Timing Case: "In order to buy, exchange and redeem shares in these mutual funds, these hedge funds employed deceptive techniques designed to avoid detection by these mutual funds. ZCM came to learn that the hedge funds were utilizing deceptive practices to market-time mutual funds, and nonetheless ZCM provided financing to them and took administrative steps that substantially assisted them," the SEC said.
- ^ Zurich Financial Pays $16.8 Million in SEC Fund Probe : "Zurich Capital Markets, a U.S. subsidiary, helped four hedge funds disguise their identities to avoid detection when making frequent trades in mutual-fund shares, a practice called market timing, the SEC said in statement today.”
- ^ InsuranceTimes.co.uk: "Zurich to lay off hundreds of UK jobs.”
[edit] External links
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