Commercial Union plc
Company typePublic
IndustryInsurance
Founded1861
Defunct1998
FateMerged with General Accident
SuccessorCGU plc
HeadquartersPerth, Scotland

Commercial Union plc was a large insurance business based in London. It merged with General Accident in 1998 to form CGU plc.

History

24 Cornhill, head office of Commercial Union for much of the 20th century until the move to St Helen's

Commercial Union was established following a conflagration near London Bridge in 1861, known as the Great Tooley Street Fire, which destroyed a number of warehouses and wharves along the River Thames as a result of which the fire insurance companies were hit by a series of massive claims. Consequently, they increased their fire insurance rates so dramatically that a group of local merchants and brokers decided to form their own company. This became known as the Commercial Union Assurance Company.[1] The company established its head office at 24-26 Cornhill in London in 1897.[2]

It purchased the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society, the world's oldest fire insurance company, in 1905[3] and The Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation in 1910 and it continued to grow by further acquisitions.[1]

The acquisition of the British General Insurance Company followed in 1926.[4] Then, after completing the acquisition of North British and Mercantile Insurance, which had significant operations in the United States, in 1959, Commercial Union moved to larger and more modern facilities at St. Helen's in London in 1969.[5]

With the intention of expanding its activities in continental Europe, it acquired the Dutch insurance business, Delta Lloyd Group, in 1973 and the French insurance business, L'Epargne de France in 1984.[6]

The company merged with General Accident to form CGU plc in 1998.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Liveing, Edward. A Century of Insurance: The Commercial Union Assurance Group 1861 - 1961. London: H F & G Witherby, 1961
  2. ^ "Commercial Union Assurance Company". Aviva. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society". Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2009.
  4. ^ "British General Insurance Company". Aim 25. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  5. ^ "St Helens". Emporis. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  6. ^ Hoschka, Tobias C (1993). Cross-Border Entry in European Retail Financial Services: Determinants, Regulation and the Impact on Competition. Palgrave McMillan. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-349-22979-6.
  7. ^ "U.K.'s Commercial Union, General Accident to Merge". Wall Street Journal. 26 February 1998. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
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