If you are looking for a big and well established company the Allianz should be on top of the list. Allianz was founded on February 5, 1890 in Berlin, Germany by Carl von Thieme and Wilhelm von Finck. They were the director of Munich Reinsurance Company and the owner of a German bank. The initial fund for the company was 4 million Mark.

It was a transport and accident insurer and listed under the Allianz Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft name. “Allianz” is German for “Alliance”. They only sold marine and accident insurance to customers at first in Germany.

In 1893, Allianz opened its first office outside Germany in London, England. They sold marine insurance for German customers who wanted to protect their business assets outside of German. Then they continued to expand to Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia and France.

The San Francisco Earthquake on April 18, 1906 and the fire following after is the  insurer’s nightmare. More than 3.000 people killed, 250.000 becoming homeless and property damage reaches around 350 million US dollars loss – about  9.7 billion dollars in today’s value. Allianz and insurers around the world such as Fireman’s Fund and Munich Re pay out a total of 250 million dollars in claims.

After the world War 1 ended, Allianz suffered great loss in staff, 92 men are lost in the war and 20 percent reduction in premium income. But not long after that, in 1918 Allianz created the Kraft Versicherungs -AG together with Munich Re and the Kaiserlicher Automobilclub and becomes Germany’s largest motor insurer in 1920.

During the World War II n 1940’s, the German company’s headquarter in Berlin was destroyed by Allied bombers. In May 1945 Allianz is essentially bankrupt. The splitting of Berlin into East and West Berlin at the end of the war resulted in Allianz moving their headquarter to Munich in 1949, where the company’s head office is located today.