NATIONWIDE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

AM Best Grade: A+ (Superior) 5 stars

Company Info: 

Address: One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215

Phone: 800-882-2822

Website: www.nationwide.com

Also known as: Harleysville Life Insurance Company, Nationwide Life and Annuity Company, Nationwide Life Insurance Co.

In 1925, Murray D. Lincoln along with members of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation incorporated the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company with the goal to provide quality automobile insurance to Ohio Farmers.  The company sold their first policy in 1926 and by 1928 they had quickly expanded by selling policies to farmers in West Virginia, North Carolina, Vermont, Delaware, and Maryland.   By 1955 Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company had outgrown their original goals as well as their name, so they decided to become Nationwide.  They were operating in 32 states as well as the District of Columbia by 1965.  Nationwide Financial went public on the NYSE in 1997, however Nationwide Corporation bought the outstanding stocks in 2009 and is now a privately owned company.

The company that started to help protect Ohio Farmers at an affordable rate is now ranked number 91 on the Fortune 500 list and is the 9th largest life insurer in the nation.  According to their annual report in 2014, they have $195.2 Billion dollars in assets.  Nationwide currently employs about 33,000 people and is ranked number 85 in Fortune’s 100’s “Top Companies to Work for.”

By Justin Nelson,  August, 2015