Assurant : Everything you need to know

Assurant: Everything you need to know

About Assurant

Assurant is a global provider of risk management solutions, mainly focusing on the lifestyle and housing protection markets. It offers five segments:

• Assurant Solutions: offers credit-related insurance, debt protection administration, warranties and service contracts, and pre-funded funeral insurance.
• Assurant Health: offers cover for individuals and small employers.
• Assurant Specialty Property: provides lender-placed homeowner insurance and manufactured housing homeowners’ insurance.
• Assurant Employee and Benefits: offers group dental insurance, group vision insurance, group disability insurance, group life insurance, and supplemental worksite insurance.
• Corporate & Other: focuses on a company’s financing and interest expenses, interest income from short-term investments held, and net realized gains on investments.

The Fortune 500 company is active in more than 20 countries. It supports some of the most trusted brands, particularly mobile carriers and multiservice operators, financial institutions, retailers, original equipment manufacturers, vehicle dealers, funeral service providers, and property management companies.

History of Assurant

Assurant’s background can be traced to the launch of the La Crosse Mutual Aid Association in 1892, which sold disability insurance in Wisconsin. It later changed its name to Time Insurance Company. In 1978, Dutch company NV AMEV acquired Time Insurance Company. In 1990, NV AMEV bought VSP GROEP NV bank to become The Netherlands’ first financial conglomerate combining banking and insurance – resulting in the creation of Fortis. The company was eventually renamed Assurant.

In 2018, Assurant continued to expand its services by acquiring The Warranty Group, extending the company’s service contracts and financial services businesses across the globe. It is also the largest acquisition by the company.

Leadership at Assurant

Keith W. Demmings – President and CEO

Demmings was appointed president and chief executive officer of Assurant in January 2022. Prior to this, he served as president of the company’s Global Lifestyle units, a role he held since 2016. He also served as president of the firm’s international business, heading its operations throughout Asia, Canada, Europe, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

Demmings began his career at Assurant in 1997 as a sales intern in the Toronto, Canada office, for what was then American Bankers. Progressing through the organization, he managed clients and increasingly larger P&L’s. He eventually became the president of Assurant’s Canadian business in 2005.

Culture at Assurant

Assurant aims to be a responsible employer while helping communities and meeting customers’ needs. It supports diversity in the workplace, drives its people’s growth, encourages innovation, and enhances employee engagement. In 2020, the company earned a top score of 100 in the Human Rights Campaign’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index and was named one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality for the second consecutive year.

The company also focuses on remaining ethical by adhering to the highest standards of business integrity as well as social and environmental responsibility. As part of its commitment, Assurant’s Global Code of Business Conduct and Ethics outlines the values and behaviours expected from its people as well as the processes for reporting suspected unethical behaviour.