Nationwide Insurance

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Type	Mutual
Industry	Financial services
Founded	1926
Headquarters	One Nationwide Plaza Columbus, Ohio United States
Key people	Steve Rasmussen, CEO
Products	Insurance, Investments, Banking
Revenue	US$ 40.222 billion (2015)
Net income	US$ 581 million (2015)
Total assets	US$ 185.306 billion (2015)
Number of employees	34,000
Website	nationwide.com

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company & Affiliated Companies is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, OH. The company also operates regional headquarters in Des Moines, IA; San Antonio, TX; Gainesville, FL; Raleigh, NC; and Westerville, OH.

Nationwide Financial Services (NFS), a component of the group, was partially floated on the prior to being repurchased by Nationwide Mutual in 2009. It had owned the majority of NFS common stock since it had gone public in 1997.

On December 17, 1925, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation incorporated the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in Columbus, Ohio. At that time, Ohio law required 100 people to pledge to become policyholders. The first agents managed to recruit ten times that number, and on April 12, 1926, Farm Bureau Mutual started business with 1,000 policyholders.

The first product of the new company, as its name implied, was automobile insurance. The company wrote policies only to Ohio farmers. In 1928, Farm Bureau Mutual began offering policies to West Virginia farmers, followed by Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, and North Carolina. Farm Bureau Mutual began underwriting residents of small towns in 1931, and residents in larger cities in 1934.

Also in 1934, Farm Bureau Mutual began offering fire insurance. This product grew the following year with the purchase of a struggling fire insurance company. With growth came a need for expansion of office space. In 1936, the company moved to the famous 246 Building at 246 N. High Street in Columbus. By 1943, Farm Bureau Mutual operated in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Even with the tripling of space in the 246 Building (which was finally dedicated on the 25th anniversary of the company), Farm Bureau Mutual still had insufficient office space, and began opening regional offices in 1951.