Alleanza Assicurazioni

In the 1870s Evan George Mackenzie had opened an insurance agency in Genoa which represented some important French, British and Austrian companies. The agency was enormously successful: eighty employees worked there and it was the largest insurance agency in Italy.

On 12 October 1898, Mackenzie together with Giacomo Castelbolognesi, Enrico Rava and Giuseppe Corradi founded Alleanza Assicurazioni.

The company has a nominal capital of fifteen million and the paid-up capital of one and a half million lire, and operates in all insurance fields. It is the second most important insurance company in Genoa, the city from which it inherits its symbol: St. George killing the dragon.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Alleanza already had 345 agencies, almost all in Italy, but some also in Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Tripolitania, Malta and Spain.

From the beginning the life branch had represented the main area of the company but in 1912 the Giolitti government with law 305 proceeded to the nationalization of life insurance and, like all companies active in the sector, Alleanza Assicurazioni was also forced to sell the branch life to INA. This represented a serious damage to the company.

The decree of 29 April 1923 reintroduced competition for life insurance and in 1924 Mackenzie decided to reorganize the company, which would operate exclusively in the life sector. In this new framework, the general management was transferred to Milan. The restructuring gave excellent results: thirty-three agencies were reopened and premium income increased by 36%.

Alleanza was controlled with a stake of around 50.4% by Assicurazioni Generali between 1933 and June 2009, when Generali announced plans to acquire the remainder of its shares. In February 2009, the merger by incorporation of Alleanza into Generali together with Toro Assicurazioni began with the consequent transfer of the insurance activities of Alleanza and Toro to a new company wholly owned by Generali and called Alleanza Toro S.p.A. The merger was completed on 1 October.

With effect from 31 December 2013, Alleanza Assicurazioni became a separate brand from Toro Assicurazioni and resumed its role in the life business, maintaining the non-life business acquired and strengthened by the previous merger with Toro.