About Us
American Financial Group, Inc. is a holding company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and founded in 1959. Our insurance roots go back to 1872 with the founding of Great American Insurance Company. Today, through the operations of Great American Insurance Group, AFG is engaged in property and casualty (P&C) insurance, focusing on specialized commercial products for businesses. We are proud to provide insurance products that help businesses manage their unique financial risks and exposures.
AFG’s Specialty P&C Group is comprised of over 35 diversified businesses offering a wide range of specialty commercial coverages in three major groupings: Property and Transportation, Specialty Casualty and Specialty Financial.
Many of our businesses are among the top performers in their respective industries. Our business has entrepreneurial spirit at its core, with a focus on accountability. Business autonomy in our Specialty P&C operations facilitates agility in underwriting, claims and policy servicing, and enables these businesses to develop distribution strategies and relationships in the unique markets they serve.
AFG’s in-house team of investment professionals oversees a portfolio of approximately $15 billion. By following a consistent, opportunistic strategy over many years and changing economic conditions, we have outperformed market indices over the long term while effectively managing portfolio risk.
We believe that superior underwriting results, superior investment talent and intelligent deployment of capital lead to long-term value creation for our shareholders. With the power of generations behind it, AFG grows and changes with discipline and integrity. We're proud of who we are, where we've been and where we're going. Our industry is changing, and we continue to change as well. We strive to provide quality products and service to our customers and agents, offer a rewarding work environment for our employees, and build value for our shareholders.
Our History
American Financial Group traces its history to 1959. In the early days, the Company was known as American Financial Corporation. At its inception, the Company’s principal business consisted of savings and loans. Although insurance and financial services have always been at the core of its businesses, nearly sixty-five years later, the Company has evolved into a holding company with over 35 market-leading insurance operations engaged in the sale of specialty commercial property and casualty (P&C) insurance across a variety of industries.
Over the past 20 or so years, we have sharpened our focus on the businesses we know best. We’ve done this through carefully selected acquisitions, start-ups, and dispositions of non-core businesses. A sampling of transactions appears below:
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Sale of Commercial Lines Division
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Start-up of Financial Institution Services
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IPO of Infinity Property and Casualty; exit personal auto business
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Acquisition of Farmer’s Crop Insurance Alliance
IPO of National Interstate Corporation
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Acquired all minority shares of Great American Financial Resources, Inc.
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Acquisitions of Strategic Comp & Marketform Group Ltd.
Start-up of Environmental Division
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Acquisition of Vanliner
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Start-up of Public Sector Division
Sale of Medicare supplement & critical illness businesses
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Start-up of Professional Liability Division
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Acquisition of Summit Holding Southeast, Inc.
Start-up of Aviation Division
Acquisition of Public Sector renewal rights
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Sale of long-term care business
Start-up of Great American's Singapore branch
Start-up of M&A Liability Division
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Acquired remaining 49% of NATL shares not owned by AFG
Start-up of El Aguila Specialty P&C Division
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Acquired Tank Owner Members Insurance Company (TOMIC) business
Acquired ABA Insurance Services Inc. (ABAIS)
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Start-up of Accident & Health Division
Acquired Atlas Financial paratransit business
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Sale of Neon and exit from Lloyd’s market
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Sale of Annuity Business to MassMutual
Acquisition of Verikai, Inc.
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Start-up of Medical Stop Loss Business
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Acquisition of Crop Risk Services from AIG
