History of Primerica
Written by chief on Friday, November 24th, 2006 in General, Money and Finance, Politics and History.
Primerica was 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. Along with Primerica, other major brand names under Citigroup’s trademark red umbrella included Citibank, CitiFinancial, Smith Barney, and Banamex.