Primerica Financial Services
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| Primerica Financial Services | |
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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 10, 1977 |
| Headquarters | 3120 Breckinridge Blvd. Duluth, GA 30099-0001 770-381-1000 |
| Key people | John Addison, Co-CEO Rick Williams, Co-CEO and CFO Glenn Williams, President |
| Industry | Financial Services |
| Products | Life Insurance Mutual Funds Variable Annuities Loans Long-Term Care Insurance Legal Services |
| Employees | 2,000 (2006) |
| Parent | Citigroup |
| Slogan | "Help families become debt free and financially independent" |
| Website | www.primerica.com |
Primerica Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia. It is the largest financial services marketing organization in North America, with more than 100,000 licensed independent representatives.[1] The company provides financial products and services, including term life insurance, mutual funds, variable annuities, loans, long-term care insurance and pre-paid legal services, to over 6 million clients.[2] Primerica conducts business principally in the US and Canada; the company also operates in Spain as CitiSoluciones and in the United Kingdom as CitiSolutions.
Primerica states that its marketing plan pays representatives commission on personal business and override commissions on the income generated by the representative's sales group. This marketing structure is similar to the General Agency concept in insurance where commissions are earned at several levels.
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History
Founded in 1977 by Arthur L. Williams, Jr., the company, then named A. L. Williams, established a market niche by mass-marketing the concept of “Buy term and invest the difference.” With “BTID,” the company advised its mostly middle-income client base to purchase sufficient protection with term life insurance and systematically save and invest in separate investment vehicles, such as mutual fund IRAs. A.L. Williams was initially established as privately held general agency, at first selling life insurance policies underwritten by Financial Assurance, Inc. (FIA).
The company expanded, outgrowing the capacity of FIA to process its business. In 1980, A.L. Williams entered into a contract with a larger underwriter of life insurance, The Massachusetts Indemnity and Life Insurance Company (MILICO). To support A.L. Williams, headquartered in Atlanta, MILICO established a regional office in that city. In 1981, the company established First American National Corporation (later called The A.L.Williams Corporation) as a holding company for First American Life Insurance (later called A.L. Williams Life Insurance Company) and First American National Securities (later renamed PFS Investments). In 1982, The A.L. Williams Corporation (ALWC) underwrote a $27 million public stock offering, listed in the Over the Counter (OTC) market under the symbol ALWC. In 1983, the company became listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the same symbol.
On November 1988, ALWC acquired MILICO from Primerica Corporation (formerly American Can Company, not Primerica Financial Services) for 44.58 million shares of ALWC stock, making Primerica Corporation the majority shareholder of ALWC. In December of 1988, Commercial Credit acquired Primerica Corporation for $1.54 billion, retaining the Primerica name. At this time, the major businesses under Primerica Corporation included A.L. Williams, Smith Barney and Commercial Credit.
In November of 1989, Primerica purchased the remaining 30% of ALWC that it did not previously own, and also purchased the privately held General Agent, A.L. Williams, Inc. In 1991, Primerica Corporation changed the name of A.L. Williams to Primerica Financial Services. The following year, MILICO, Primerica Financial Services life insurance underwriter, changed its name to Primerica Life Insurance Company and FANS, its broker/dealer changed to PFS Investments.
Primerica Corporation, in December of 1993, acquired the remaining 73% of Travelers Insurance Corporation and adopted the name, Travelers Inc., which was changed to Travelers Group the following year. Travelers Group included Primerica Financial Services, Smith Barney, Travelers Life and Annuity, Travelers Property/Casualty, Commercial Credit and other financial businesses.
In 1998, Travelers Group and banking giant Citicorp merged creating Citigroup (NYSE: C). Primerica and its affiliates continue to operate as subsidiaries of Citigroup, although the Travelers insurance business was spun off in 2002. Along with Primerica, other major brand names under Citigroup include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Smith Barney, and Banamex.
Criticism
Primerica has often characterized as a multi-level marketing (MLM) company[3], with complaints surfacing that some representatives and their respective office branches have recruited new members through deceptive job interviews.[4]
External links
- Primerica Financial Services
- Citigroup Parent Company
Sources
- New Georgia Encyclopedia NGE, viewed November 7, 2006
- Citigroup Corporate History Citigroup.com, viewed April 1, 2007
- Primerica Financial Services Citigroup.com, viewed April 1, 2007
References
- ^ http://www.primerica.com/public/history.html
- ^ http://www.primerica.com/public/history.html
- ^ Richard Poe, "Wave 4, Network Marketing in the 21st Century. Three Rivers Press, 1999 "(network marketing) ...lay at the core of the Citigroup merger. One of the Travelers Group's most valued assets was a MLM subsidiary called Primerica."
- ^ http://www.corporatenarc.com/primerica-complaints.php
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