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mutual insurance

 
Dictionary: mutual insurance

n.
An insurance system in which the insured persons become company members, each paying specified amounts into a common fund from which members are entitled to indemnification in case of loss.


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Wikipedia: Mutual insurance
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A Mutual insurance company is an insurance company which has no shareholders but instead is owned entirely by its policyholders: this ownership either extends to all its policyholders or is restricted to certain classes of policyholders. Their ownership rights typically include voting rights, for instance in the election of the board of directors and on any proposal to demutualise. In a mutual insurance company, any distributed surplus funds is paid entirely to policyholders, whereas in a proprietary company (one with shareholders) a proportion of the surplus (typically 10%) is paid to shareholders, in exchange for the capital that they provide to support the business. The absence of shareholders makes it more difficult for the directors of a mutual to raise fresh capital, for example to finance any new ventures that they propose. Historically, insurance began in many countries mainly through a mutual (or cooperative) structure. In recent years, many insurance companies have gone through demutualization and become public companies in an effort, among other things, to enable them to acquire further capital.

The global trade association for the industry, the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation, claims 206 members in 72 countries, in turn representing 400 insurers.[1]

Contents

List of mutual insurance companies

Canada

Germany

Members of "Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Versicherungsvereine auf Gegenseitigkeit e.V"

Japan

Spain

Australia

  • Employers Mutual

United Kingdom[2]

United States

List of demutualized insurance companies

Japan

  • Daido Life Insurance Company
  • The Kyoei Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd.
  • Mitsui Life Insurance Co., Ltd.
  • Taiyo Life Insurance Company
  • Yamato Life Insurance Company

South Africa

United Kingdom

United States

List of defunct mutual insurance companies

Japan

  • Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Company
  • Daihyaku Life Insurance Company
  • Daiichi Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Company
  • Nissan Mutual Life Insurance Company
  • Toho Mutual Life Insurance company
  • Tokyo Mutual Life Insurance Company

References

  1. ^ ICMIF: Members list. Retrieved on April 7, 2009.
  2. ^ AMI members. Association of Mutual Insurers. Retrieved on August 24, 2008. A longer list of UK mutual insurers.

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mutual insurance" Read more