Symetra is an American family of companies providing retirement plans, employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through independent distributors nationwide. The main headquarters of the company is located in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has v ...

History

Started in 1957, Symetra Financial began as a subsidiary of Safeco. In 1967, the total amount of insurance in force for Symetra surpassed the $1 billion mark. By 1995, the total assets had grown to $10 billion. In 2004, Safeco sold its life insurance business to an investor group led by

White Mountains Insurance Group White Mountains Insurance Group is a diversified insurance and related financial services holding company based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Redomiciled from Delaware, United States, on October 25, 1999, the company conducts most of its business throu ...

and

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...

. Symetra Financial was acquired in 2016 by Japanese insurer

Sumitomo Life is a mutual life insurance company in Japan, founded in 1907 and headquartered in Osaka. In 2005, the company announced a joint venture with the People's Insurance Company of China. The new company was named PICC Life Insurance, which sells in ...

for $3.8 billion. The Japanese insurer was looking to expand its foothold on insurance especially as its Japanese market ages, increasing costs. In January 2020, Symetra Financial Corporation announced it established an investment subsidiary, Symetra Investment Management Company (SIM). Sumitomo Life, Symetra's Japan-based parent company, completed its first $500 million investment through a corporate bond fund in December 2019. The standalone entity will focus on managing money for Symetra's corporate parent and the Sumitomo Life Insurance Co to invest in US-based assets.

Sponsorships

Symetra and Women's All Pro Tour hosted the Symetra Tour, which is known as the "Road to

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...

", from 2012 to 2021. Players can earn a promotion to the LPGA by through qualifying school, winning three events in one season, or finishing in the top-10 on the tour. Symetra Life Insurance is also the first founding partner and sponsor of Seattle's

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(NHL) expansion franchise, the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

, which began playing in October 2021. In 2019, Symetra Life Insurance signed a 10-year marquee jersey badge sponsorship with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

( WNBA) team, the largest partnership in franchise history. The company negotiated a separate partnership with WNBA point guard Sue Bird, who appeared in a TV ad for the company's "Jibber Jabber" campaign.

References

External links

* Financial services companies established in 1957 Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Insurance companies of the United States Companies based in Bellevue, Washington Sumitomo Life 2016 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies 2010 initial public offerings {{US-finance-company-stub