Principal Financial Group, Inc.
Explore Principal Financial Group
Core profile pages, annual revenue records, and related research hubs for this company.
Principal Financial Group, Inc.
Explore Principal Financial Group
Core profile pages, annual revenue records, and related research hubs for this company.
Company History
Founded 1879 in Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Principal began in Des Moines in 1879 as The Bankers Life Association. Edward Temple saw a practical problem: bankers and their employees needed dependable life insurance at affordable cost.
Edward Temple founded the company that became Principal Financial Group.
Simon Casady was among the early financial backers of the Bankers Life Association.
The company is founded in Des Moines, Iowa, by Edward H. Rollins and a syndicate of local investors to provide life insurance to the rapidly industrializing workforce of the American Midwest, securing the initial capital and charter that would eventually become Principal Financial Group.
Principal expands its product offerings to include industrial life insurance, a high-frequency, low-premium product collected by door-to-door agents, a strategic move that allowed the company to penetrate the deepest pockets of the urban working class and build a massive, highly loyal customer base.
The company survives the catastrophic 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed millions of Americans and bankrupted dozens of life insurers, by relying on its conservative reserve structure and its deep understanding of the specific geographic and occupational concentrations of the virus.
Principal becomes one of the first major carriers to launch variable life insurance and variable annuity products, a strategic pivot that allowed the company to protect its policyholders against the hyperinflation of the 1970s and established its dominance in the equity-linked insurance market.
Principal Financial Group completes its initial public offering, raising over $1.2 billion in capital and transitioning from a mutual insurance company to a publicly traded stock company, a strategic pivot that provided the capital necessary to execute massive acquisitions in the retirement and asset management space.
Principal successfully navigates the catastrophic market collapse of 2008, utilizing its highly sophisticated derivative hedging programs to neutralize the equity exposures embedded in its variable annuity guarantees, a feat that saved the company from the massive reserve shortfalls that bankrupted several of its competitors.
Principal completes the transformative $1.2 billion acquisition of AHM Capital Management's mortgage servicing rights, instantly scaling its alternative asset management capabilities and establishing its dominance in the private credit space.
Principal achieves a robust Risk-Based Capital (RBC) ratio of 390% for the fiscal year 2024, generating $13.1 billion in total revenues and $1.4 billion in net income, demonstrating the immense profitability and capital discipline of its diversified business model in a volatile interest rate environment.
Added major retirement plan recordkeeping, trust, custody, and institutional advisory scale.
Announced agreement to acquire a digital-first employee benefits company serving small businesses.
Principal Financial Group is a public retirement, asset management, insurance, and benefits company based in Des Moines. FY2025 revenue was $15.6255 billion.
Principal Financial Group reported $15.6255 billion of revenue for FY2025. This figure is the headline source-backed value used for the financials page, revenue table, and quick company snapshot in this profile.
Principal Financial Group's founding story traces to Edward Temple and early Bankers Life Association backers.
The 2001 demutualization and public listing changed Principal from a mutual insurer into a public financial group, while the 2019 Wells Fargo retirement deal expanded employer retirement scale.