Office address: 1201 Wills St, Baltimore, MD 21231; 6400 C St. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52499 (statutory home office)
Website: transamerica.com
Year established: 1904
Company type: financial services
Employees: 6,100+
Expertise: retirement plans, mutual funds, annuities, life insurance, employee benefits, investment management, financial planning, workplace benefits, insurance claims, asset management
Parent company: Aegon
Key people: Will Fuller (CEO), Andrew Yorks (CIO), Matt Keppler (CFO), Bonnie Gerst (president, financial assets), Chris Giovanni (chief strategy and development officer), Todd Buchanan (president, World Financial Group), John McCrossan (chief risk officer)
Financing status: corporate-backed or acquired
Transamerica is a financial services company based in Baltimore, with a statutory home office in Cedar Rapids. The company serves over 10 million customers and manages $416 billion in revenue-generating investments. It offers retirement plans, mutual funds, annuities, life insurance, and employee benefits through a network of agents and financial professionals.
Transamerica’s story began in 1904, when Amadeo P. Giannini wanted to help people whom banks often ignored. The Bank of Italy opened in San Francisco to give small merchants and immigrant farmers a fair chance. After the 1906 earthquake, the bank offered loans from a makeshift desk on the docks, trusting people with just a handshake.
Giannini’s banking group expanded its reach in 1921 by supporting a bank for women that was staffed entirely by women. In 1928, the Bank of Italy became Bank of America.
The group soon formed Transamerica Corporation to acquire Occidental Life Insurance Company. By 1946, Bank of America was the world’s largest private bank. In 1956, new federal banking laws led the firm to focus on insurance and divest its banking operations.
In 1972, the firm made a mark on San Francisco with the Transamerica Pyramid, an 853-foot tower designed by William Pereira. The building soon stood out as a landmark in the city’s financial district and remains part of the company’s logo. Even though Transamerica no longer owns the building, it remains a symbol of the company’s history.
The company became part of Aegon, a global financial group, in 1999. Since then, the company has served over 10 million customers and has managed $416 billion in investments.
In 2023, it focused on helping middle-market Americans with life insurance and retirement solutions. Aiming to offer pooled retirement plans for employers seeking simple options, Transamerica partnered with SageView, an independent RIA, in 2024.
Transamerica’s investment-related offerings are available through several channels and are tailored for individuals, employers, and financial professionals:
Some of its offerings are supported by research from the Transamerica Institute, a nonprofit foundation funded by Transamerica affiliates. Their studies and insights help clients and advisors make informed financial and retirement decisions.
Transamerica states that it values diversity and inclusion through its workforce, workplace, and marketplace pillars. The company reports a culture that supports unique career paths, rewards accountability, and encourages work-life balance.
It says it also offers an environment focused on collaboration and helping people plan for the future. Employees have access to a range of benefits, including:
Building on its commitment to employees and communities, the company supports local and national causes through the Aegon Transamerica Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit that offers grants and matches employee donations. In 2024, it contributed over $8 million to help improve community well-being.
Will Fuller has been the president and CEO of Transamerica since 2021 and serves on the company’s Risk Committee. He has held senior leadership positions in financial services for 30 years, focusing on advocacy and education. Fuller earned a business and finance degree from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.
The executive team leads Transamerica’s strategy and daily operations with expertise in finance, investment, and risk management:
This team seeks to guide Transamerica’s strategy and daily management. Their leadership ensures the company’s goals and operations are aligned.
The firm, through its Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, released a national survey highlighting retirement challenges for all generations. The study shows that Americans of all ages face common obstacles when planning for retirement. Its research gives advisors and clients valuable data on savings habits, stress, and financial gaps.
Through the same research center, Transamerica also surveyed over 10,000 middle-class Americans about retirement readiness. It found that many people fall short on savings, lack written financial plans, and need more guidance at every age. These findings allow the firm to create solutions that address real gaps and help clients prepare for retirement.
Effort will help client companies manage disability leaves, other workplace absences and reduce administrative burden for human resources staff.
Many women advisers are uniquely equipped to catalyze clients' values into plans and actions, said speakers at the Women Adviser Summit.
The company's asset management unit already supervises a total of $350 billion in assets in defined-benefit and defined-contribution accounts and will utilize the acquisition to provide new digital tools to customers.
Scott Allen Fries, a former Transamerica rep and adviser, took at least $458,000 from at least 10 individuals.
Adding the retirement services company will help Transamerica expand its pooled retirement plan offerings.
The move will allow TriNet to provide more website capabilities and additional call center hours to plan participants.
A bug earlier this year let plan sponsor clients view outside participants' data, and one man claims he and others suffered consequences.
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They also want to extend the 15-day window under state and Finra rules to hold disbursements from accounts when abuse is suspected.
Building a rapport with clients is crucial to getting them to talk about steps that may be needed to protect their investment accounts from exploitation, advisers said at the IN Retirement Income Summit.
A significant impediment is that experienced retirement plan advisers do not want to work with smaller or start-up plans, because they can't afford the minimum fees these RPAs need to charge.
Looming over the RPA Record Keeper Roundtable and Think Tank was the convergence of wealth, retirement and health at work.
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Rob Foregger, who led the establishment of the fintech firm in 2013, left his day-to-day responsibilities at the company in May, but is still a shareholder and adviser.
Plan sponsors are clamoring for solutions to help employees with their financial issues. Student loans and emergency savings programs are two easy, simple and impactful ways that the DC industry can help.
