Safeco Insurance
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Safeco Insurance is an American
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
company based in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
. A subsidiary of
Liberty Mutual Liberty Mutual Insurance Company is an American diversified global insurer and the sixth-largest Property insurance, property and Casualty insurance, casualty insurer in the world. It ranks 87th on the Fortune 100, ''Fortune'' 100 list of larges ...
, Safeco provides
auto insurance Vehicle insurance (also known as car insurance, motor insurance, or auto insurance) is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury ...
,
homeowners insurance Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner's insurance (often abbreviated in the US real estate industry as HOI), is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insur ...
, 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 ...
. The company name is an acronym for Selective Auto and Fire Ensurance Company of America, or SAFECO (i.e., S.A.F.E. Co.).


History

Safeco was founded in 1923 by Hawthorne Kingsbury Dent (1880-1958) as the General Insurance Company of America, a
property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...
and casualty insuring company, with a headquarters in
Downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...
at the corner of University Street and Fourth Avenue. In 1936, it moved to the eight-story Brooklyn Building at the corner of N.E. 45th Street and Brooklyn Avenue N.E. in the
University District, Seattle The University District (commonly the U District) is a neighborhood and a major district in central northeastern Seattle, Washington, comprising several distinct neighborhoods. The main campus of the University of Washington (UW) is located in ...
. In 1953, it formed a subsidiary, the "Selective Auto and Fire Insurance Company of America," or SAFECO. General Insurance began to sell
life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...
in 1957. In 1968, it changed its name from the General Insurance Company of America to Safeco Corporation. Around the same time the company began to offer
mutual fund A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase Security (finance), securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in ...
s and commercial credit, though precursors to the Safeco Funds had been around since the 1930s. Safeco replaced the Brooklyn Building with the 22-story Safeco Plaza (now
UW Tower The UW Tower is a high-rise office building complex located in the University District of Seattle, Washington, United States. It was completed in 1975 and serves as the head offices of the University of Washington. The 22-story tower was desig ...
) building in 1973. It remains the tallest building in the city outside Downtown. In January 1987, it sold its
title insurance Title insurance is a form of indemnity insurance, predominantly found in the United States and Canada, that insures against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage loans. Unlik ...
business to Chicago Title for $30.7 million cash and $46 million in a 7-year
promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...
. In 1997, Safeco acquired American States Financial Corporation from
Lincoln National Corporation Lincoln National Corporation is a ''Fortune'' 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its subsi ...
for $2.8 billion, expanding beyond the West Coast.
Washington Mutual Washington Mutual, Inc. (often abbreviated to WaMu) was an American Bank holding company, savings bank holding company based in Seattle. It was the parent company of Washington Mutual Bank, which was the largest savings and loan association in ...
's WM Life Insurance Company was purchased the same year. In 1999, Safeco bought R.F. Bailey (Underwriting Agencies) Limited of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. In 2001, new management was brought in to restructure the company. Commercial credit operations were sold to
GE Capital GE Capital was the financial services division of General Electric. Its various units were sold between 2013 and 2021, including the notable spin-off of the North American consumer finance division as Synchrony Financial. Ultimately, only one div ...
in August 2001. In August 2004, the company sold its life insurance and investments business to a group of private investors led by Safeco board members,
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...
's
Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...
, and White Mountains Insurance Group, incorporating as Symetra. Hub International acquired Safeco's insurance brokerage operations.
Mellon Financial Mellon Financial Corporation was an American investment firm which was once one of the world's largest money management firms. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was in the business of institutional and high-net-worth individual asset managem ...
acquired Safeco Trust Company, its private bank. Also in 2004, the company sold its land title insurance business to First American Corporation. In July 2005, CEO Mike McGavick stepped down as CEO to run in the 2006 United States Senate election in Washington. In May 2006,
Assurant Assurant, Inc. is a global provider of risk management products and services with headquarters in Atlanta. Its businesses provide a diverse set of specialty, niche-market insurance products in the property, casualty, extended device protection, ...
acquired Safeco Financial Institution Solutions. In 2006,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
acquired the company's Redmond campus for $209.5 million. The University District complex was sold to the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
for $130 million. Safeco moved back downtown in 2007; its new headquarters at 1001 Fourth Avenue became the new Safeco Plaza, and the former Safeco Plaza was renamed
UW Tower The UW Tower is a high-rise office building complex located in the University District of Seattle, Washington, United States. It was completed in 1975 and serves as the head offices of the University of Washington. The 22-story tower was desig ...
. In May 2007,
BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...
assumed management of the company's $10.5 billion investment portfolio. In September 2008, the company was acquired by Liberty Mutual Insurance for $6.2 billion in cash. In February 2010, Safeco donated more than 800 pieces of its art collection, valued at $3.5 million, to a consortium of museums, the Washington Art Consortium. In March 2025 Liberty Mutual announced that it was retiring the Safeco brand in 2026.


Sponsorships

Safeco held the
naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...
to the
Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...
'
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
from its opening in July
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
through the
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
season. The company also sponsored the
Safeco Classic The Safeco Classic (often styled as the SAFECO Classic) was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour in the Seattle area, sponsored by Safeco Insurance. It was played 18 times, from 1982 to 1999, aMeridian Valley Country Clubin K ...
, a women's professional
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
tournament on the
LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...
from
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
through
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
; it was held in September at the Meridian Valley Country Club in 
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
.


References


External links

*
Historical Annual Reports for Safeco
{{Authority control 1923 establishments in Washington (state) 2008 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1923 American corporate subsidiaries Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies based in Seattle Financial services companies established in 1923 Liberty Mutual