| Type | Public (NYSE: CNA) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Insurance |
| Founded | 1967 (parent company), 1897 (principal operating company) |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Key people | Thomas F. Motamed, Chairman and CEO |
| Revenue | $9,862 million |
| Net income | $851 million (2007) |
| Employees | roughly 7,000 |
| Website | http://www.cna.com |
CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE: CNA) is a financial corporation based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and noted for its 600-foot (180 m) tall red headquarters building, CNA Center. Its principal subsidiary, Continental Casualty Company (CCC) was founded in 1897. CNA (the parent company) was incorporated in 1967. The primary business focus of CNA is to provide commercial property and casualty insurance to businesses and professionals. CNA markets its products and services primarily through independent agents and brokers.
CNA itself is 89% owned by a holding company, Loews Corporation. This holding company also has interests in offshore oil and gas drilling rigs, natural gas transmission pipelines, tobacco, and in hotel operations.
Contents |
Continental Assurance Company of North America was founded in Detroit in 1897. The purpose of the company was to provide accident and health insurance to railroad industry employees. This company then merged with the Metropolitan Accident Company, changed its name to the Continental Casualty Company, and moved to Chicago.
The National Fire Insurance Company was acquired in 1956, and in the 1963 the American Casualty Company was acquired. The first letters of each of the original companies were merged to form the acronym CNA. It was then referred to as the Continental National American Group, now it simply goes by CNA.
On January 1, 2004, CNA sold its Group Benefits division to The Hartford, based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Hartford merged its new purchase with its own Group Benefits Division. With the sale of this division came the end of CNA's long history as a multi-line insurer.
The CNA Foundation contributes millions of dollars to community development via funding programs and civic involvement. The primary focuses are:
Two current beneficiaries of the CNA Foundation are the USO of Illinois and Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago.
In May 2011, a United States Department of Labor administrative law judge referred the company for criminal investigation after a probe found that the firm had failed to pay life insurance benefits to the families of nine Iraqi translators killed while working for the American government. The Labor investigation reportedly found that the company had witheld documents and information in an effort to avoid making the payments.[1]