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.
The Retirement Plan Exchange, which uses TAG Resources, is designed to reduce administrative headaches related to providing a plan.
The plaintiff allegedly lost $24,000 when the fund was removed from the plan and his assets were transferred to a target-date fund.
Americans experienced a wide range of financial consequences during the pandemic. A new survey analyzes the financial impact of the pandemic on different generations
The divorce rate among older couples is on the rise. Here’s how advisers can help female clients going through it.
So far, about 100 advisers, including those from 11 of the 15 biggest aggregator firms, have used the service, which recently began including quotes for pooled employer plans.
Participants had accused the plan's fiduciaries of using poorly performing investment options.
Seventy percent of women leave their financial adviser within a year of widowhood. Here’s how advisers can improve service during this challenging life stage.
The new class-action suits against the three employers allege fiduciary breaches. Two defendants in other cases recently reached settlements over $1 million.
One of life’s most challenging circumstances is caring for a loved one. Here’s how advisers can help female clients who are thrust into the role.
Annuities are one of the leading recommendations for near retirees who are concerned about running out of money. But they are also poorly understood by many consumers, and that puts people at risk for being sold inappropriate products in amounts that represent an outsize proportion of their savings.
Fuller, who had been executive vice president of Lincoln Group, succeeds Mark Mullin, who becomes board chairman.
Nearly three-quarters of women with investible assets of $100,000 or more say the pandemic has negatively impacted their ability to retire, but as that is happening, more women are turning to financial professionals for advice, according to a Nationwide survey.
Prudential Retirement plans to launch the service, Advice and Income Engines, sometime during the first quarter of 2021. It will provide retirement planning and personalized portfolio management to Prudential’s defined-contribution plan participants.
Total U.S. annuity sales hit $58.7 billion in the last three months of the year, up 2% from the $57.6 billion during the same timeframe in 2019, according to data published by Limra’s Secure Retirement Institute. But sales were down for the full year.
Pooled employer plans, or PEPs, could dramatically change the 401(k) business, but only if employers decide to adopt them.
