Ageas NV history, company profile (overview) and history video
Ageas NV is a multinational insurance company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
HISTORY
The company’s roots reach back to the 1824 foundation of the Belgian life insurer Assurances Générales (now AG Insurance). In 1990 AG merged with the Netherlands-based bancassurer AMEV/VSB to form Fortis. AMEV/VSB had itself been formed earlier that year by the combination of savings bank VSB (Verenigde Spaarbank) and insurer AMEV, which took advantage of the recent relaxation of Dutch legislation preventing mergers between banks and insurers. AMEV had originally been founded in Utrecht in 1920 as Algemeene Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Verzekeringsmaatschappijen (English: General Society for Operation of Insurance).
After its creation in 1990, Fortis expanded its offerings to include private and investment banking and asset management, establishing subsidiaries around the world, and by 2007 it had become the 20th largest business in the world by revenue. That year Fortis agreed to jointly purchase ABN AMRO with Banco Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland Group, but the onset of the major financial crisis exacerbated problems with financing its part of the large acquisition and prompted fears of impending insolvency. Considered “too big to fail”, Fortis received an €11.2 billion bailout from the Benelux governments and saw its retail banking operations in Belgium sold to BNP Paribas and its insurance and banking subsidiaries in the Netherlands nationalised.
The remaining assets of the company, consisting principally of insurance operations but also including some distressed assets, were rebranded Fortis Holding. In April 2010, its shareholders agreed a formal change of name to Ageas N.V./S.A., with ownership of the Fortis brand passing to BNP Paribas.
With more than 40,000 employees, Ageas NV is considered one of the largest insurance providers in Belgium. According to Forbes, it is considered one of the Largest Public Companies in the World.
*Information from Forbes.com, Wikipedia.org, and www.ageas.com.
**Video published on YouTube by “Ageas UK“
