The Phoenix Companies
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1851 |
| Founder | A group of prominent Hartford businessmen |
| Headquarters |
Phoenix Life Insurance Company Building Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
|
Key people
|
Phillip J. Gass (CEO) |
| Products | Life insurance, Annuities |
| Total assets | $16.4 billion (GAAP basis) |
| Parent | Nassau Reinsurance Group |
| Website | www.nsre.com/phoenix |
The Phoenix Companies, Inc. is a financial services company that traces its origins to 1851.
Phoenix is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and has 650 employees as of 2015. Phoenix remains one of the few insurance companies to keep its headquarters in Hartford.
The Phoenix Companies comprises a number of businesses that trace their origins to the mid-19th century.
In 1851, the oldest predecessor of The Phoenix Companies, The American Temperance Life Insurance Company, was founded. The American Temperance Life Insurance Company was a part-mutual, part-stock company that insured only those who abstained from alcohol and was founded by a group of prominent Hartford businessmen as well as religious and civic leaders. As the temperance movement began to wane, American Temperance Life Insurance Company changed its name to Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1860, accepting all customers. The company's new name is in reference to the mythological Phoenix, rather than the city.
In 1860, another early predecessor, the Home Life Insurance Company was formed in Brooklyn, New York and was the first life insurer authorized by the New York Insurance Department. In 1894, Home Life built a new 16-story headquarters on Broadway in New York City, which as one of the world's first steel-framed skyscrapers for a short time was one of the world's tallest buildings.
In the early 20th century, the company pioneered several innovations in the marketing of insurance. In 1901, Phoenix published The Field, believed to be the first agent newsletter and in 1906 produced "A Prospectus and Ten Lessons Upon Life Insurance," the first agent training course used by a life insurance company. In 1912, Phoenix became the first life insurance company to use direct mail advertising. In 1923, Phoenix created the first advertisement to promote the value of life insurance and then in 1926, runs advertisements for its retirement income plan in national magazines, with the tag line, "You don't have to be rich to retire at 55 on $200 a month."
Phoenix pioneered other innovations, including offering reduced life insurance premium rates for women for the first time in 1955 and selling group life and health insurance plans to small businesses in 1957. In 1967, Phoenix is the first insurer to offer discounted premiums to nonsmokers.
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Wikipedia