RLI Corp. is an American insurance company specializing in
property insurance
Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or ...
and
casualty insurance Casualty insurance is a defined term which broadly encompasses insurance not directly concerned with life insurance, health insurance, or property insurance.
Casualty insurance is mainly liability coverage of an individual or organization for n ...
.
It is headquartered in
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria Metropolitan Area in Centr ...
.
RLI conducts its operations primarily through four insurance subsidiaries — RLI Insurance Company, Mt. Hawley Insurance Company, RLI Indemnity Company and Contractors Bonding and Insurance Company.
History
Founded in 1965 by Gerald D. Stephens, Replacement Lens, Inc. (RLI) was one of the first insurers of contact lenses.
Eventually, the company emerged as one of the leading contact lens insurers in the United States. Building upon its success in the contact lens market, RLI further expanded its business into other niche insurance markets.
Over time, the demand for contact lens insurance shrank with the emergence of more affordable disposable soft lenses. In order to remain competitive, Stephens expanded RLI's offerings to include
commercial property
Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office ...
and
liability insurance
Liability insurance (also called third-party insurance) is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser (the "insured") from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the in ...
. In 1994, the company retired its founding contact lens insurance product and in 1996 RLI sold its RLI Vision unit to
Maui Jim
Maui Jim is an American sunglasses manufacturer based in Peoria, Illinois.
Founded in Lahaina, Hawaii, in 1980, the company designs, develops, and manufactures a wide variety of sunglasses marketed under the eponymous brand name. As of 2015, it ...
, a manufacturer of luxury sunglasses.
References
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Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Financial services companies established in 1965
Companies based in Peoria, Illinois
Insurance companies based in Illinois