80 Fun Facts About Insurance

Which Babylonian legal text of c.1750 BC had shipping-loan rules seen as early insurance?

If a merchant paid his lender an extra sum, the loan was cancelled should the shipment be lost at sea, which is a premium in all but name.

The first known stand-alone insurance contract, dated 1347, was written in which Italian city?

Genoese merchants also invented insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates, and Venice set up a specialised marine-insurance court in 1436.

In which year did the Great Fire of London happen?

It began at Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane and destroyed more than 13,000 houses in four days.

Which English economist set up the first fire insurance company, the "Insurance Office for Houses", in 1681?

His father, Praise-God Barebone, reportedly baptised him If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned.

In the 1700s, British insurers marked insured buildings with metal plaques for their brigades. What were they called?

By 1825 they had become more advertisement than identification, and genuine period plaques are now valuable enough that fakes are made.

Which insurer, dating from 1710, is described as the earliest still-existing property insurance company?

It was also the first to issue the metal identification plaques that its brigade looked for on burning buildings.

Where in London did Edward Lloyd open the 1680s coffee house that became Lloyd's of London?

It moved to Lombard Street in 1691, where Lloyd installed a pulpit from which shipping news and auction prices were read out.

What are the individual private backers of the Lloyd's of London market traditionally called?

For most of Lloyd's history they backed policies with all of their personal wealth, and the asbestos losses of the early 1990s bankrupted around 1,500 of them.

'Underwriter' comes from Lloyd's backers signing beneath the risk details on which document?

Each backer accepted a share of the risk on a sea voyage in exchange for a premium, and the term spread to banking and securities.

What is the Latin motto of Lloyd's of London?

It means confidence, and sits alongside the market's guiding phrase about utmost good faith between underwriters and brokers.

The Lloyd's Underwriting Room bell came from which frigate, wrecked off the Dutch coast in 1799?

Most of the gold and silver, valued by Lloyd's at about £1.2 million, has never been recovered from the shifting sandbanks.

A single stroke of the Lutine Bell in Lloyd's Underwriting Room told the market what about an overdue vessel?

Two strokes meant good news; the practical purpose was to halt trading in overdue reinsurance on that vessel the instant its fate was known.

What was the annual premium for insuring Titanic's hull for £1 million?

The rate was 15 shillings per £100, and Lloyd's paid the White Star Line the full sum within 30 days of the sinking.

After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lloyd's underwriter Cuthbert Heath told his local agent to do what?

Other insurers were disputing whether earthquake policies covered fire damage; Heath's decision cemented Lloyd's reputation in the American market.

Lloyd's reportedly insured which part of Riverdance star Michael Flatley's body for $47 million?

The policy only applied while he was touring and forbade him from dancing anywhere except on stage.

The Lloyd's building at 1 Lime Street, completed in 1986, was designed by which architect?

It stands on the site of the old Roman Forum, and the facade of the 1925 building survives stranded beside it on Leadenhall Street.

Which Founding Father organised the Philadelphia Contributionship fire insurer in 1752?

It refused to insure wooden houses at all, and it is still the nation's oldest property insurance company.

In 1781 the Philadelphia Contributionship annoyed customers by requiring them to remove what from outside their houses?

A rival insurer that let customers keep them became known as the Green Tree company, with a green tree on its plaque.

Which astronomer published the first life table in 1693, using Breslau's birth and death records?

His analysis let the British government price life annuities by the buyer's age, and it is seen as a founding event in demography.

Which job title did Edward Rowe Mores give the Equitable Society's chief official in 1762?

The Equitable was the world's first mutual insurer and the first to price long-term life policies by age using James Dodson's mathematics.

What is the British English term for what US insurers call a deductible?

Choosing a higher one usually buys a cheaper premium, since the insurer no longer handles the many small claims a customer could bear.

What is it called when a reinsurer passes part of a risk on to yet another reinsurer?

Layers of this practice created the London market 'spiral' after the 1988 Piper Alpha explosion, when syndicates found they held the same loss several times over.

An insurer that pays a claim may "stand in the shoes" of its customer against the party at fault. What is this called?

The insurer's rights are wholly derivative, so it can never recover more than the customer could have.

Economists' modern study of "moral hazard" began in the 1960s with which Nobel-winning economist?

The phrase itself dates to the 17th century, when English insurers used it to imply outright fraud by the insured.

Which of these professional reinsurers was founded in 1863?

The earliest specialist reinsurer was the Cologne Reinsurance Company of 1846; its larger Bavarian rival followed in 1880.

Insurance contracts are governed by the principle of "utmost good faith", known by which Latin phrase?

It obliges the insured to disclose all material facts, the opposite of the buyer-beware rule that governs most other contracts.

What do the letters in the auto insurer GEICO stand for?

Despite the name it has always been private; Leo and Lillian Goodwin founded it in 1936 to sell to federal workers.

Warren Buffett wrote up GEICO in 1951 while studying at Columbia under which value-investing mentor?

Berkshire Hathaway finally bought the 49 percent of GEICO it did not already own in January 1996 for $2.3 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway's first move into insurance, in March 1967, was the purchase of which Omaha company?

It cost $8.6 million; decades later the same subsidiary took on the pre-1993 liabilities of Lloyd's members through the Equitas deal.

Before British actor Jake Wood, which American sitcom star was among the voices of the GEICO Gecko?

The company spent over $1.1 billion on advertising in 2012, and its Cavemen campaign spun off a short-lived ABC sitcom.

State Farm, the largest US auto insurer, has its headquarters in which Illinois city?

Retired farmer George J. Mecherle founded it in 1922 as a mutual company offering farmers cheaper rates than urban drivers paid.

Which singer-songwriter wrote State Farm's famous 1971 jingle about being a good neighbor?

Weezer released a cover of it in 2011, the same year the first Jake from State Farm ad aired.

Allstate was founded in 1931 as a subsidiary of which retailer?

The name came from a Sears tire brand chosen in a 1925 contest that drew more than two million entries.

Which actress and comedian has played Progressive's spokesperson Flo in more than 1,000 ads since 2008?

She also plays Flo's parents and siblings, and the character was created by copywriter John Park and art director Steve Reepmeyer at Arnold Worldwide.

Aflac is an acronym of the company's original name. What does the "F" stand for?

It was founded in Columbus, Georgia in 1955 by three Amos brothers and pioneered cancer insurance in 1958.

Which comedian voiced the Aflac Duck until he was dropped in 2011 over Japan tsunami jokes?

Japan is Aflac's biggest market, and his replacement, Daniel McKeague, was a Minnesota ad-sales manager found through an open casting call.

Which cartoon character served as MetLife's corporate mascot from 1985 until 2016?

The company brought him back in 2023 as the face of its pet insurance division.

Prudential Financial's long-running logo depicts which landmark?

An 1890s ad man was actually inspired by Laurel Hill, a volcanic neck in Secaucus, New Jersey, and a two-ton piece of the real thing sits in a Jacksonville lobby.

Which president signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935?

John Sweeney became the first citizen to receive a Social Security number in 1936 but died before collecting a cent of retirement benefits.

The first monthly Social Security benefit check, issued to Ida May Fuller in 1940, was for how much?

Ernest Ackerman had received the first lump-sum payout three years earlier: 17 cents.

Which former president was present when LBJ signed Medicare into law in Independence, Missouri, in 1965?

Johnson credited him with planting the seeds of the idea two decades earlier, and the same law created Medicaid.

Medicare Part D, which took effect in 2006, covers what?

It was made possible by the Medicare Modernization Act that George W. Bush signed in December 2003.

Under the Affordable Care Act, dependents may stay on a parent's health plan until what age?

The rule took effect on September 23, 2010 and applies even if the dependent is married or no longer lives at home.

In the 2012 Sebelius case, the Supreme Court upheld the ACA's individual mandate by calling its penalty what?

The same ruling said Congress could not use the Commerce Clause to force people to buy insurance, and the 2017 tax law later set the penalty to zero.

The 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act left insurance regulation mainly to which level of government?

Congress passed it after the Supreme Court's South-Eastern Underwriters ruling said insurance was interstate commerce subject to federal antitrust law.

The FDIC, which insures US bank deposits, was created by which piece of legislation?

The president himself doubted the idea, worrying it would put a premium on unsound banking; the standard limit today is $250,000 per depositor per category.

The first US state insurance commissioner was appointed in 1851 in which state?

The first state reserve-requirement law had already been passed in 1837, and the first US stock insurer was chartered in 1792.

In insurance and contract law, what does the phrase "act of God" describe?

The Latin equivalent is damnum fatale, and in flood or crop cover such events are the whole point of the policy rather than an excuse.

Which state adopted the first no-fault auto insurance law in 1970, via a Michael Dukakis bill?

The plan was drafted by law professors Robert Keeton and Jeffrey O'Connell, and about a dozen jurisdictions plus Puerto Rico now run no-fault schemes.

The world's first pet insurance policy was written in 1890 in which country?

Claes Virgin's policies focused on horses and livestock; Britain's first came in 1947, and fewer than 5 percent of American pets are insured.

Which country is the world's largest insurance market, writing about 45 percent of global premiums in 2023?

It wrote $3.226 trillion of the $7.186 trillion global total; China was a distant second at $723 billion.

Allianz, described as the world's largest insurance company, is headquartered in which city?

It began trading in Berlin in 1890 and only moved south in 1949 after Germany was divided; its asset arm includes PIMCO.

In which year did Lloyd's List print its final daily paper edition?

Issue number 60,850 was the last on paper; fewer than 2 percent of subscribers still used print.

What was the first modern life insurance company, founded in London in 1706, called?

Members paid an annual amount per share, and at year's end a slice of the 'amicable contribution' was split among the widows and children of those who had died. It launched with 2,000 members.

In which year was the earliest known life insurance policy, on William Gybbons, written at London's Royal Exchange?

Richard Martin paid thirteen merchants 30 pounds to receive 400 if Gybbons died within the year. He did, and the merchants reportedly tried to wriggle out of paying.

The Society for Equitable Assurances, the first mutual insurer (1762), pioneered which life-insurance practice?

Its premiums were set from mortality rates, which is why it is credited with laying the framework for scientific insurance practice. Its founder, Edward Rowe Mores, was a disciple of the mathematician James Dodson.

American life insurance began in 1759 with a relief fund for the widows and children of which denomination's clergy?

Episcopalian priests organised a similar fund a decade later, in 1769. Between 1787 and 1837 more than two dozen American life insurers started up, but fewer than half a dozen survived.

Term life policies are cheaper than permanent ones. What do they NOT build up over time?

Term cover typically runs for 10 to 30 years and simply pays out if the insured dies within that window; permanent policies accumulate money the owner can withdraw, borrow against or surrender.

Whole life and universal life are two of the three basic types of permanent life insurance. What is the third?

An endowment policy pays out either on death or on a set maturity date, whichever comes first, which made it a popular savings vehicle before tax rules tightened.

A typical American life policy's suicide clause voids the contract within how long of purchase?

Some states impose a shorter statutory one-year clause. Most states also cap the 'contestability period', during which an insurer can void a policy over misrepresentations, at about the same two years.

When Prudential started in Newark, New Jersey in 1875, it sold only one product. What was it?

It began life as The Widows and Orphans Friendly Society. Founder John F. Dryden ran the company until 1912 and along the way became a U.S. Senator.

Northwestern Mutual was founded in 1857 as the Mutual Life Insurance Company of which state?

It started in Janesville and moved to Milwaukee in 1859. Its first two death claims came from a single train wreck, and the payout exceeded the young company's assets, so the president lent it the difference.

Under what name did New York Life first open in Manhattan in 1841?

It arrived ten years after the first life insurance charter was granted in America, and in its early days it also wrote fire and marine cover.

MetLife's 1863 predecessor, National Union Life and Limb, was set up to insure whom?

It covered them against disability from wartime wounds, accidents and sickness. Later, millions of 'industrial' policies were sold for five to ten cents a week, collected door to door.

The tontine is named after a 17th-century banker from which city?

Lorenzo de Tonti pitched it to the French crown in 1653, but the Parlement de Paris rejected it. Louis XIV finally used tontines in 1689 to fund his wars; the last survivor, a widow, collected 73,000 livres in 1726 at age 96.

Which 1905 New York inquiry into how life insurers sold tontine policies led to their effective ban?

After Henry Baldwin Hyde of the Equitable introduced tontines in 1868, the Equitable and its imitators sold roughly 9 million such policies, two-thirds of all American life contracts then in force.

Which German chancellor introduced old-age pensions, accident insurance and medical care in the 1880s?

Germany built on welfare traditions in Prussia and Saxony dating back to the 1840s.

Direct insurance of sea risks for a premium, independent of loans, began around 1300 in which country?

Stand-alone policies unbundled from loans came a few decades later in Genoa.

What is the name for the money an insurer holds after collecting premiums but before paying claims?

Investment earnings on it can keep an insurer profitable even when its combined ratio exceeds 100%.

The York Antwerp Rules, the first international insurance rules, govern which maritime principle?

They divide costs between ship and cargo, and general average is described as the principle underlying all insurance.

The US Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, creating a shared public-private compensation system, was passed in which year?

It was a direct response to the losses insurers faced after the September 11 attacks.

Which measure of underwriting performance compares an insurer's expenses and losses to its premiums?

A figure under 100% means an underwriting profit; the US property-casualty industry lost $142.3 billion on underwriting in the five years to 2003.

Insurance agents who write policies for only one company are described as what?

Independent agents, by contrast, can issue policies from several companies.

What cover protects an event organiser who offers a big reward for a half-court shot or hole-in-one?

It lets sponsors dangle huge prizes without risking a payout they cannot afford.

Which US law governs nuclear incident insurance for the nuclear industry?

Nuclear cover is generally arranged at national level, and most ordinary policies carry a nuclear exclusion clause.

Which industry insider is noted for doubting that insurers can profit forever on float alone?

He argued underwriting itself must be profitable rather than relying on investment returns.

A 1816 excavation in Minya, Egypt found a Roman-era tablet with the rules and dues of what kind of club?

The Nerva-Antonine tablet came from the ruins of the Temple of Antinous in Antinoöpolis.

In the 5th-century Digesta of Justinian, what were the rules the Romans applied to shared maritime losses called?

The Digest was the second volume of Justinian's codification of laws in 533.

Ancient traders in which two countries practised risk distribution as early as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC?

Chinese merchants spread their goods across many vessels so a single capsizing would not ruin them.

Which body, formally founded in 2012, succeeded the informal International Network of Insurance Associations?

The Global Federation of Insurance Associations aims to give the industry more effective input into international regulation.