COMPANYHISTORIES
SIC 6211

Security Brokers, Dealers and Flotation Companies

How the companies in this industry began, and the forces that shaped them.

63companies1831–1996founding years63still active0no longer operating
§ 01

The industry over time

Companies foundedEconomyTechnologyEnvironmentHistory
FoundedAssicurazioni Generali SpA
1831
FoundedGrupo Financiero Serfin, S.A.
1864
FoundedGruntal & Co., L.L.C.
1880
FoundedThe John Nuveen Company
1898
1903
TechnologyThe Wright brothers achieve powered flight.
FoundedThe Liberty Corporation
1905
1914
EconomyWorld War I begins; global trade reorders.
FoundedOhio Casualty Corp.
1919
FoundedHousehold International, Inc.
1925
FoundedFarmers Insurance Group of Companies
1927
FoundedThe Sanwa Bank, Ltd.
1933
1939
EconomyWorld War II begins; wartime production surges.
FoundedEl Corte Inglés Group
1940
FoundedHorace Mann Educators Corporation
1945
EconomyThe war ends; a long global expansion begins.
1947
TechnologyThe transistor is invented.
1958
TechnologyThe integrated circuit is demonstrated.
FoundedMerrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
1959
1962
EnvironmentSilent Spring launches the modern environmental movement.
FoundedSmith Barney Inc.
1964
FoundedInternational Telephone and Telegraph Corporation
1968
FoundedThe Charles Schwab Corporation
1974
1975
TechnologyThe personal-computer era begins.
FoundedWaterhouse Investor Services, Inc.
1979
1981
TechnologyThe IBM PC launches and sets a standard.
FoundedShearson Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
1983
1984
TechnologyApple ships the Macintosh; the GUI era begins.
FoundedThe Loewen Group, Inc.
1985
1989
HistoryThe Berlin Wall falls; global markets open up.
1991
TechnologyThe World Wide Web is released to the public.
1993
TechnologyThe Mosaic browser brings the web to everyone.
1995
TechnologyWindows 95 launches; the internet goes mainstream.
1997
EnvironmentThe Kyoto Protocol sets the first climate targets.
2004
TechnologySocial media and Web 2.0 take hold.
2007
TechnologyThe iPhone launches the smartphone era.
2010
TechnologyCloud computing goes mainstream for business.
2015
EnvironmentThe Paris Agreement sets global climate targets.
2020
EconomyThe COVID-19 pandemic upends the global economy.
2022
EconomyInflation spikes; central banks raise rates sharply.
2023
TechnologyGenerative AI reaches mainstream business use.
§ 02

The companies

Assicurazioni Generali SpA →
Active · founded 1831 · Italy
Founded in Trieste in 1831, Assicurazioni Generali SpA is the largest insurance company in Italy and the fifth-largest…
Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. →
Active · founded 1847
Boatmen's Bancshares Inc.
The St. Paul Companies, Inc. →
Active · founded 1853
The St.
Grupo Financiero Serfin, S.A. →
Active · founded 1864 · Mexico
Grupo Financiero Serfin, S.A.
HSBC Holdings plc →
Active · founded 1865 · United Kingdom
A significant force in international banking, HSBC Holdings plc (also referred to as the HSBC Group) operates in some…
Deere & Company →
Active · founded 1868
One of the five oldest companies in the United States, Deere & Company is the world's largest manufacturer of…
The Royal Bank of Canada →
Active · founded 1869 · Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest financial institution.
Gruntal & Co., L.L.C. →
Active · founded 1880
Gruntal & Co., L.L.C.
Catholic Order of Foresters →
Active · founded 1883
Catholic Order of Foresters (COF), headquartered in Naperville, Illinois, was founded in 1883 as a fraternal benefit…
SunAmerica Inc. →
Active · founded 1890
SunAmerica Inc., among the nation's largest life insurers, is also a financial services company, offering retirement…
The John Nuveen Company →
Active · founded 1898
A longtime operator in the investment industry, The John Nuveen Company concentrates on the sponsorship, marketing, and…
B.A.T. Industries PLC →
Active · founded 1902 · England
B.A.T.
American National Insurance Company →
Active · founded 1905
American National Insurance Company is one of the 100 largest life insurance companies in the United States in terms of…
Lincoln National Corporation →
Active · founded 1905
With origins in life insurance, Lincoln National Corporation has evolved into a financial services company whose…
The Liberty Corporation →
Active · founded 1905
The Liberty Corporation provides several types of insurance services and owns Cosmos Broadcasting, which operates…
Inter-Regional Financial Group, Inc. →
Active · founded 1909
Inter-Regional Financial Group, Inc.
ConAgra, Inc. →
Active · founded 1919
In 1919 Alva Kinney brought four grain milling companies in south central Nebraska together to take advantage of…
Ohio Casualty Corp. →
Active · founded 1919
Ohio Casualty Corp., which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1994, ranks as one of the United States's top 35 stock…
Business Men's Assurance Company of America →
Active · founded 1920
Insurance and financial services company Business Men's Assurance Company of America (BMA) is a member of the Generali…
Legal & General Group plc →
Active · founded 1920 · United Kingdom
Legal & General Group plc is one of Great Britain's largest insurance concerns.
Washington National Corporation →
Active · founded 1923
Through its two primary operating companies, Washington National Insurance Company and United Presidential Life…
Household International, Inc. →
Active · founded 1925
Household International, Inc.
Nomura Securities Company, Limited →
Active · founded 1925 · Japan
The Nomura Securities Company, the largest securities firm in Japan, has long been recognized as an industry pacesetter.
The Yasuda Trust and Banking Company, Limited →
Active · founded 1925 · Japan
Since establishing its first overseas branch some two decades ago, Yasuda Trust and its subsidiaries have been actively…
Farmers Insurance Group of Companies →
Active · founded 1927
Farmers Insurance Group of Companies was a wholly owned subsidiary of B.A.T.
BayBanks, Inc. →
Active · founded 1928
BayBanks, Inc., is one of the largest and most successful bank holding companies in New England.
Transamerica Corporation →
Active · founded 1928
Transamerica Corporation is involved, largely through semi-independent subsidiaries, in life insurance, financial…
The Allstate Corporation →
Active · founded 1931
The Allstate Corporation is the holding company for Allstate Insurance Company, the second largest property and…
The Sanwa Bank, Ltd. →
Active · founded 1933 · Japan
The Sanwa Bank, Ltd.
SBC Warburg →
Active · founded 1934 · England
Founded by Siegmund Warburg, a scion of a German banking dynasty, SBC Warburg was established as a mutual aid society…
Waddell & Reed, Inc. →
Active · founded 1937
Waddell & Reed, Inc.
El Corte Inglés Group →
Active · founded 1940 · Spain
El Corte Inglés, S.A.
Banco Bradesco S.A. →
Active · founded 1943 · Brazil
Headquartered in a suburb of São Paulo, Brazil, Banco Bradesco S.A.
Banco Itaú S.A. →
Active · founded 1944 · Brazil
Headquartered in Brazil's financial capital of Sao Paulo, Banco Itaú S.A.
The Nikko Securities Company Limited →
Active · founded 1944 · Japan
The Nikko Securities Company Limited is one of the largest securities companies in the world, and--along with Daiwa…
Horace Mann Educators Corporation →
Active · founded 1945
An insurance holding company, Horace Mann Educators Corporation is a leading insurer serving educators in the United…
Society Corporation →
Active · founded 1958
Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Society Corporation is one of the fastest-growing and most innovative bank holding…
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc. →
Active · founded 1959
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc.
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. →
Active · founded 1959
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Jackson National Life Insurance Company →
Active · founded 1961
Jackson National Life Insurance Company is one of the top life insurance companies in the United States, with 17…
Jefferies Group, Inc. →
Active · founded 1962
Jefferies Group, Inc.
Signet Banking Corporation →
Active · founded 1962
Signet Banking Corporation is a registered multi-bank, multi-state holding company with 24-hour telebanking, 240…
Smith Barney Inc. →
Active · founded 1964
From its unprepossessing beginnings in Philadelphia more than a century ago, Smith Barney has grown into a financial…
Kemper Corporation →
Active · founded 1967
Kemper Corporation is a holding company consisting of life insurance and real estate investment operations.
Fourth Financial Corporation →
Active · founded 1968
Fourth Financial Corporation is the largest bank holding company in Kansas.
International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation →
Active · founded 1968
Once known primarily as a telecommunications company, the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT) has…
Hillenbrand Industries, Inc. →
Active · founded 1969
Hillenbrand Industries, Inc., is the largest manufacturer of caskets and hospital beds in the world, and also supplies…
Piper Jaffray Companies Inc. →
Active · founded 1969
Through three wholly owned subsidiaries, Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray Companies Inc.
PaineWebber Group Inc. →
Active · founded 1970
PaineWebber Group Inc.
The Charles Schwab Corporation →
Active · founded 1974
The Charles Schwab Corporation, through its operating subsidiary Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., is the largest discount…
The Quick & Reilly Group, Inc. →
Active · founded 1974
The Quick & Reilly Group, Inc.
New Street Capital Inc. →
Active · founded 1976
Since its incorporation in 1976, Drexel Burnham Lambert Incorporated (reorganized as New Street Capital Inc.), once a…
Waterhouse Investor Services, Inc. →
Active · founded 1979
Waterhouse Investor Services, Inc.
Maxicare Health Plans, Inc. →
Active · founded 1980
Maxicare Health Plans, Inc.
Pulsar Internacional S.A. →
Active · founded 1981 · Mexico 66265
Pulsar Internacional S.A.
Salomon Inc. →
Active · founded 1981
Salomon Inc.
Shearson Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. →
Active · founded 1983
Shearson Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited →
Active · founded 1984 · Bermuda
Jardine Matheson is one of the oldest names in East Asia, and Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited is an international…
Sierra Health Services, Inc. →
Active · founded 1984
Overseeing the largest and oldest health maintenance organization (HMO) in Nevada, Sierra Health Services, Inc.
The Loewen Group, Inc. →
Active · founded 1985 · Canada
The Loewen Group, Inc.
Unitrin Inc. →
Active · founded 1990
Although Chicago-based Unitrin has only existed as a stand-alone company since 1990, when it was spun off from…
Bank Austria AG →
Active · founded 1991 · Austria
With over one-fifth of the nation's banking business, Bank Austria AG is Austria's largest and most profitable banking…
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. →
Active · founded 1996 · Japan
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd., the world's largest bank, was formed in April 1996 from the merger of The Mitsubishi…
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