" "

DECADES

OF INNOVATION

How We Grew

Transamerica's rich history as a stable value industry leader and innovator began more than a quarter of a century ago when two large U.S. insurance groups -- Capital Holding and Transamerica -- began selling institutional products to their respective clients in the early 1980s. The initial products sold were typically funding agreements and guaranteed investment contracts (GICs) in which the insurers would guarantee a certain rate of return on the institution's investment over a period of time before paying back the principal. The insurers would invest the borrowed money at a higher rate of return, and profit from the "spread" between what the insurers earned and what they paid out under the terms of the GICs. Some of these GICs provided a fixed-income like, "stable" return to pension and savings vehicles such as 401(k) plans.


In 1991, to meet institutions' demand for a guaranteed return without shifting assets into the insurers' accounts, Capital Holding pioneered the synthetic or Trust GIC®, becoming the first insurer to provide this unique "wrap" contract. This product, the precursor of what Transamerica provides today, offered the credit-backing of an insurance company (the "wrap") and a smoothed rate of return on a pool of assets, all for a fee as opposed to the spread-arbitrage model of the traditional GIC.


Aegon acquired Providian (formerly Capital Holding) in 1997 and Transamerica in 1999, and in 2000 merged their respective institutional products businesses into a new unit, Aegon Institutional Markets. For the next nine years, Aegon Institutional Markets grew its stable value business to become the industry's largest provider of synthetic GICs.


In 2009, Aegon made a strategic decision to scale back its institutional spread business and re-position Aegon Institutional Markets' synthetic GIC team as Aegon Stable Value Solutions. Rebranded in 2012 as Transamerica Stable Value Solutions, it is one of several units now operating under Transamerica’s Workplace Solutions group.


Today, Transamerica remains a leading provider of synthetic GICs, "wrapping" approximately $60 billion in the stable value offerings held by savings/retirement plans of major corporations and stable value pooled funds. We have also expanded our product offerings to include separate account stable value solutions.