Assurant vs BBVA: Founders, CEOs and History
Assurant was founded in 1892 by Founders of La Crosse Mutual Aid Association and is led by Keith Demmings. BBVA was founded in 1857 by Bilbao Board of Trade and is led by Onur Genç.
Company facts
Founders
Assurant
Founders of La Crosse Mutual Aid Association
The La Crosse Mutual Aid Association was established to provide disability insurance to consumers. It was later licensed as the Time Insurance Company in 1910 and evolved into a Wisconsin health and disability underwriter.
BBVA
Bilbao Board of Trade
No individual is recorded as the founder of BBVA's oldest institution. Banco de Bilbao was created in 1857 after the Bilbao Board of Trade, the body representing the port city's merchants, promoted a bank that could issue banknotes and discount commercial bill…
CEOs and their tenures
Assurant
- J. Kerry Clayton2004–2006
Former Chief Executive Officer
Led Fortis, Inc. through its February 2004 initial public offering and rebranding as Assurant, Inc. and ran the company for its first two years as an independent listed insurer.
Source - Robert B. Pollock2006–2014
Former President and Chief Executive Officer
Ran Assurant through its first decade as an independent specialty insurer, holding together a portfolio that spanned health, employee benefits, prearranged funeral insurance and lender-placed property.
Source - Alan B. Colberg2015–2021
Former President and Chief Executive Officer
Took Assurant out of health insurance and employee benefits and rebuilt it around lifestyle and housing protection, then bought the scale to make that work.
Source - Keith W. Demmings2022–present
President and Chief Executive Officer
Has run Assurant as a two-segment protection company, pushing it further into device repair, trade-in and resale while growing the lender-placed housing book.
Source
BBVA
- Pedro Luis Uriarte1999–2001
Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive and vice chairman of BBV from September 1994 and of the merged BBVA until he retired at the end of 2001.
Source - Francisco Gonzalez2000–2018
Executive Chairman
Chaired Argentaria before its 1999 merger with BBV and then BBVA until December 2018, 22 years at the head of the group in total. He drove the bank's technology rebuild and the 2007 purchase of Compass Bancshares in the United States.
Source - Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri2001–2009
Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive of BBVA from 2001 to 2009, the period that covered the USD4.1 billion buyout of the rest of BBVA Bancomer in 2004 and the USD9.6 billion purchase of Compass Bancshares in 2007. He later chaired Bankia and CaixaBank.
Source - Angel Cano2009–2015
Chief Executive Officer
Appointed chief executive in September 2009, replacing Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri.
Source - Carlos Torres Vila2015–2018
Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive from May 2015 until December 31, 2018, when he became executive chairman and Onur Genc took over as CEO. He had joined BBVA in 2008 to run strategy and corporate development and led digital banking from 2014.
Source - Onur Genc2018–present
Chief Executive Officer
Took over as CEO on December 31, 2018, the day Carlos Torres Vila became executive chairman.
Source
Timeline: Assurant and BBVA side by side
1857BBVA
Banco de Bilbao is created
Bilbao's Board of Trade promotes the creation of Banco de Bilbao as a bank of issue and discount for the city's merchants. It is the oldest institution in BBVA's corporate line.
1892Assurant
La Crosse Mutual Aid Association formed
Assurant traces its history to the La Crosse Mutual Aid Association, established in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1892 to provide consumers with disability insurance. No founder of the association is named in the company own histories.
1901BBVA
Banco de Vizcaya is founded
Banco de Vizcaya is founded in Bilbao and grows alongside Banco de Bilbao as the second large Basque bank, financing regional industry.
1910Assurant
Licensed as Time Insurance Company
The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance records Time Insurance Company, the successor to the La Crosse Mutual Aid Association, as originally licensed as an insurer in 1910.
1978Assurant
N.V. AMEV of the Netherlands buys Time Insurance
Dutch insurer N.V. AMEV acquired Time Insurance Company through its US holding company, AMEV Holdings, Inc., then expanded it by buying American Security Insurance, United Family, Western Insurance Company and Superior Insurance over the next 12 years.
1988BBVA
Banco de Bilbao and Banco de Vizcaya merge
The two Basque rivals merge to form Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV), one of the largest banks in Spain ahead of the European single market.
1991Assurant
AMEV Holdings renamed Fortis, Inc.
After AMEV combined with VSB Groep NV in 1990 to create Fortis, the US holding company AMEV Holdings, Inc. was rebranded Fortis, Inc. in 1991. It acquired John Alden in 1998.
1999Assurant
Fortis acquires American Bankers Insurance
Fortis, Inc. bought American Bankers Insurance Group of Miami, adding credit insurance and specialty warranty underwriting that became the core of the modern specialty lines. Fortis sold its life insurance business to The Hartford in 2001.
1999BBVA
BBV merges with Argentaria to create BBVA
BBV merges with Argentaria, the group Spain had assembled from state-owned lenders such as Banco Exterior, Banco Hipotecario and Caja Postal, forming Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
2000BBVA
BBVA takes control of Bancomer in Mexico
BBVA capitalizes Bancomer with USD1.4 billion and merges it with BBV-Probursa to create Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer, the largest bank in Mexico.
2004Assurant
NYSE listing as Assurant, Inc.
Fortis took the US business public on February 5, 2004 in a $1.76 billion initial public offering, the fourth largest of that year, and renamed it Assurant, Inc. The company was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 2004 and trades as AIZ.
2004BBVA
BBVA bids for the rest of BBVA Bancomer
BBVA offers USD4.1 billion in cash for the roughly 41 percent of BBVA Bancomer held by minority investors, ending with about 99 percent of the Mexican group.
2006Assurant
Robert B. Pollock succeeds J. Kerry Clayton as CEO
Founding chief executive J. Kerry Clayton retired on March 17, 2006 and was succeeded by Robert B. Pollock, then president and chief operating officer, who also joined the board that day.
2007BBVA
Compass Bancshares purchase builds a US franchise
BBVA buys Compass Bancshares of Birmingham, Alabama for USD9.6 billion, creating a Sunbelt retail bank that later traded as BBVA Compass and BBVA USA.
2010BBVA
BBVA agrees to buy 24.9 percent of Garanti
BBVA agrees to pay ~$4.74 billion (EUR4.195 billion), about USD5.84 billion, for 24.9 percent of Turkiye Garanti Bankasi, funded with a rights issue of about $5.65 billion (EUR5 billion).
2013Assurant
New York consent order on force-placed insurance
Assurant, American Security Insurance Company and American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida settled a New York Department of Financial Services investigation into force-placed homeowners insurance on March 21, 2013, paying a $14 million penalty plus homeow…
2014BBVA
BBVA wins the auction for Catalunya Banc
BBVA bids ~$1.34 billion (EUR1.187 billion) for Catalunya Banc, with 1.5 million customers and ~$71.2 billion (EUR63 billion) of assets, in the auction run by Spain's bank restructuring fund. The deal closed in 2015.
2015Assurant
Exit from health insurance and employee benefits
On June 10, 2015 Assurant announced it would leave the health insurance marketplace and wind down Assurant Health, and on September 9, 2015 it agreed to sell its employee benefits business to Sun Life for $940 million.
2018Assurant
The Warranty Group acquisition closes
Assurant completed its purchase of The Warranty Group from TPG Capital on May 31, 2018 for a total enterprise value of about $2.5 billion, expanding vehicle service contracts and international retail protection. Assurant also sold Time Insurance in 2018.
2018BBVA
Onur Genc is named CEO
BBVA's board designates Onur Genc as chief executive from December 31, 2018, the date Carlos Torres Vila replaces Francisco Gonzalez as executive chairman.
2019BBVA
BBVA unifies its brand worldwide
The group drops local names such as BBVA Bancomer, BBVA Francés, BBVA Continental and BBVA Compass and operates as BBVA in every market.
2020Assurant
HYLA Mobile acquisition closes
Assurant closed its acquisition of smartphone trade-in and upgrade provider HYLA Mobile on December 1, 2020, in a transaction the company valued at about $325 million, roughly doubling its device processing volumes.
2021Assurant
Global Preneed sold to CUNA Mutual Group
Assurant closed the sale of its prearranged funeral and final expense business to CUNA Mutual Group on August 2, 2021 for about $1.35 billion, generating roughly $1.2 billion of net proceeds, and said it intended to return about $900 million of that through sh…
2021BBVA
BBVA closes the transfer of BBVA USA to PNC
BBVA completes the transfer of BBVA USA Bancshares to PNC Financial Services on June 1, 2021, receiving about USD11.5 billion, equivalent to ~$10.8 billion (EUR9.6 billion), in cash.
2022Assurant
Keith Demmings becomes CEO and headquarters moves to Atlanta
Keith W. Demmings became president and chief executive officer in January 2022, succeeding Alan B. Colberg, who retired at the end of 2021 after seven years in the role.
2022BBVA
Tender offer lifts the Garanti stake to 85.97 percent
A tender offer at 15 Turkish lira per share closes in May 2022 and raises BBVA's holding in Garanti BBVA to 85.97 percent.
2024Assurant
iSmash acquired in the United Kingdom
Assurant acquired UK tech repair retailer iSmash on April 4, 2024, giving it 68 drop-in repair locations in the UK under the iSmash and Pocket Geek Tech Repair banners. Assurant also sold its mainland China operations during 2024.
2025Assurant
FY2025 revenue of $12.81B and the OptoFidelity purchase
Assurant reported FY2025 revenue of $12.81 billion and GAAP net income of $872.7 million, its ninth consecutive year of profitable growth, launched Assurant Home Warranty, and in October 2025 acquired OptoFidelity mobile device test automation portfolio to add…
2025BBVA
The offer for Banco Sabadell lapses
Shareholders representing 25.47 percent of Sabadell's voting rights accept BBVA's all-share offer, short of the minimum BBVA required, and the bid lapses on October 16, 2025.
2025BBVA
Record net attributable profit of ~$11.9B (EUR10.511B)
BBVA reports gross income of ~$41.7B (EUR36.931B) and net attributable profit of ~$11.9B (EUR10.511B) for 2025, with ROTE of 19.3 percent and an efficiency ratio of 38.8 percent.
2026Assurant
RL Circular Operations acquired in Australia and New Zealand
In January 2026 Assurant acquired RL Circular Operations, formerly TIC Reverse Logistics, the reverse logistics division of Australia and New Zealand based TIC Group, extending its post-purchase and circular economy capabilities across Asia Pacific.
2026BBVA
BBVA is ordered to stand trial in the Villarejo case
Spain's National Court orders BBVA, former chairman Francisco Gonzalez and 14 other defendants to stand trial over work commissioned from former police commissioner Jose Manuel Villarejo between 2004 and 2016.
Acquisitions
Assurant
- RL Circular Operations2026Undisclosed
- OptoFidelity mobile device test automation portfolio2025Undisclosed
- iSmash2024Undisclosed
- HYLA Mobile2020$325M
- The Warranty Group2018$2.5B
- Lifestyle Services Group2013$172M
BBVA
- Turkiye Garanti Bankasi tender offer (Turkey)2022Undisclosed
- Catalunya Banc (Spain)2014Undisclosed
- Turkiye Garanti Bankasi 24.9 percent stake (Turkey)2010$5.8B
- Compass Bancshares (United States)2007$9.6B
- BBVA Bancomer minority shares (Mexico)2004$4.1B
- Grupo Financiero Bancomer (Mexico)2000$1.4B
Questions about Assurant vs BBVA
Who is the CEO of Assurant, Inc. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.?
Assurant, Inc. is led by Keith Demmings and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. is led by Onur Genç. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Assurant, Inc. founded vs Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded in 1857 — 35 years before Assurant, Inc., which was founded in 1892. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Assurant, Inc..
How many employees does Assurant, Inc. have compared to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.?
Assurant, Inc. employs approximately 14,800 people, while Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. employs approximately 127,174. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. has the larger workforce at 127,174 employees, compared to Assurant, Inc.'s 14,800. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Assurant, Inc. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. headquartered?
Assurant, Inc. is headquartered in United States and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. is headquartered in Spain. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Assurant, Inc. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.?
Assurant, Inc. was founded by Founders of La Crosse Mutual Aid Association. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded by Bilbao Board of Trade.
Which company has a longer operating history — Assurant, Inc. or Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.?
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. has been operating for approximately 169 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Assurant, Inc. has been in operation for around 134 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Assurant vs BBVA overview