Assurant Inc AIZ

Assurant, Inc., incorporated on October 10, 2003, is a provider of risk management solutions in the housing and lifestyle markets. The Company operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The Company's segments include Global Housing, Global Lifestyle and Global Preneed. Through its Global Housing segment, it provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing and flood insurance and renters insurance and related products (multi-family housing business). Through its Global Lifestyle segment, it provides mobile device protection products and related services and extended service products and related services for consumer electronics and appliances (global connected living business); vehicle protection services, and credit insurance. The Global Preneed segment provides pre-funded funeral insurance and annuity products.

Global Housing segment

The Global Housing segment includes lender-placed homeowners' insurance business, which consists principally of fire and dwelling hazard insurance offered through its lender-placed program. Lender-placed insurance provides structural coverage. It protects both the lender's interest and the borrower's interest and equity. It also provides real estate owned (REO) insurance, consisting of insurance on foreclosed properties managed by its customers. Its lender-placed manufactured housing insurance consists principally of fire and dwelling hazard insurance for manufactured housing offered through its lender-placed program. Lender-placed insurance for manufactured housing is issued after an insurance tracking process similar to that of lender-placed homeowners insurance. Tracking is performed using an insurance tracking administration system. Lender-placed flood insurance consists of flood insurance offered through its lender-placed program.

The Company's multi-family housing business offers renter insurance for various multi-family rental properties, including vacation rentals, providing content protection for renters' personal belongings and liability protection for the property owners against renter-caused damage. The Company also provides tenant bonds as an alternative to a security deposit, which helps its customers to maximize the collection of amounts owed by prior tenants. Its manufactured housing and other insurance products offer voluntary manufactured housing insurance, homeowners insurance and flood insurance, as well as flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program. Its voluntary insurance generally provides structural coverage, as well as content and liability coverage.

Global Lifestyle segment

As of December 31, 2016, the Global Lifestyle segment had three lines of business. The Global connected living business, through partnerships with mobile carriers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), e-commerce and other retailers and multiple system operators (MSOs), underwrites and provides administrative services for extended service contracts (ESCs). These contracts provide consumers with coverage on mobile devices and consumer electronics and appliances, protecting them from certain covered losses. It pays the cost of repairing or replacing these consumer goods in the event of loss, theft, accidental damage and mechanical breakdown or electronic malfunction after the manufacturer's warranty expires. It provides integrated service offerings to its customers that manages all aspects of the ESC or warranty, such as program design and marketing strategy, risk management, data analytics, customer support and claims handling, supply chain and service delivery, including repair and logistics, and device disposition. In addition to extended protection for multiple devices, its mobile offerings include trade-ins and upgrades and customer support, including device self-diagnostic tools.

The Global vehicle protection service business underwrites and provides administrative services for vehicle service contracts (VSCs) and ancillary products providing coverage for vehicles, such as automobiles, trucks, recreational vehicles and motorcycles. For VSCs, the Company provides integrated service offerings to its customers, including program design and marketing strategy, risk management, data analytics, customer support and claims handling, and reinsurance facilitation, as well as actuarial consulting. The Company's Global credit and other insurance business is engaged in crediting insurance products and offers protection from life events and uncertainties that arise in purchasing and borrowing transactions. Credit insurance programs generally offer consumers the option to protect a credit card or installment loan balance/payments in the event of death, involuntary unemployment or disability, and are generally available to all consumers without the underwriting restrictions that apply to term life insurance.

Global Preneed Segment

The Global Preneed Segment has operations in the United States and Canada. The pre-funded funeral insurance provides insurance or annuity death benefits to fund the costs associated with pre-arranged funerals, which are planned and paid for in advance of death. The Company's pre-funded funeral insurance products are structured to be similar to whole life insurance policies in the United States and offer limited pay or pay for life options. In Canada, its pre-funded funeral insurance products are structured as limited pay annuity contracts. Product choices are based on the health and financial situation of the customer and the distribution channel.