America & Chubb

For nearly as long as this nation has existed, Chubb has been here — insuring American homes, businesses, and dreams through every chapter of this country’s story. 

We’ve stood with America through all of it: the booms and the downturns, the hurricanes and the rebuilding, the moments of loss and the fresh starts. And through it all, our purpose has never changed — protecting Americans and the lives they’ve built. From Main Street storefronts to major manufacturers, we back the people and businesses that create jobs and drive opportunity, helping keep the American economy running strong in communities nationwide.

Born with the nation

Chubb’s oldest subsidiary - INA (Insurance Company of North America) – was founded in 1792 in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, just sixteen years after the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in that very same building. The first joint-stock insurer in this country, built to keep American premium dollars at home, INA has called Philadelphia home, without interruption, for 233 years.

A history of firsts

  • America’s first joint-stock insurer
  • First to insure a home’s contents - not just the building - from fire (1794)
  • Founded America’s independent agency system, the model that dominated insurance for 150 years
  • Invented the Homeowners policy (1950)
  • Released our first Cyber product (1998) 

There when it mattered most - The "Great Fires"

In December 1794, INA entered fire insurance, becoming the first U.S. company to insure the contents of a building from fire. Our companies paid claims in nearly every “great fire” of the 19th and early 20th centuries, including New York (1845), Philadelphia (1850), Chicago (1871), Boston (1872), Baltimore (1904) and San Francisco (1906).

After the Great Chicago Fire, a Chubb company suffered the largest single insurance loss in U.S. history at the time -- and still paid every claim in full. 

After San Francisco, Chubb refused to discount losses for earthquake damage – paying in full while others did not. 

Protecting America's harvest

Chubb’s agriculture business, Rain and Hail, formed in 1919, is the #1 multi-peril crop insurer in the U.S. dedicated to protecting the crops of American farmers. Today Chubb insures over 107 million acres of more than 130 different types of crops, serving 120,000 farmers who not only feed America, but feed the world.

War & Maritime

In World War I, both INA and Chubb & Son became prominent writers of war risk insurance. Among the cargo and passenger baggage on which INA paid early war risk claims were those on the LUSITANIA. After the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Congress then appointed Hendon Chubb to a three-man advisory committee to manage the federal War Risk Bureau and also named him Director of Insurance of the U.S. Shipping Board. Both Chubb & Son and INA assumed similar roles in World War II. 

INA continued its well-deserved reputation for maritime innovation and leadership after the war by insuring the construction of the USS NAUTILUS, which when launched in 1954 was the world’s first atomic-powered submarine. 

Today, Chubb is proud to be assisting the United States government once more by serving as the lead underwriter for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s $20 billion plan to minimize disruption to commercial trade and the flow of energy products through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Liberty Bell

In 1942, during World War II, INA offered to fund the construction of a protective safety vault for the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, where it could be lowered to protect it during air raids. Wartime steel shortages ultimately halted the project.

Standing watch over Lady Liberty

Chubb companies took the lead in insuring the Statue of Liberty during the restoration work that preceded her centennial in 1986.

Responding to 9/11

On September 13, 2001, Chubb was the first insurance group to state that it would not invoke the “acts of war” exclusion and would start paying claims immediately. Chubb leadership also took the lead in advocating for a federal backstop to terrorism insurance coverage, what became the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIA).

Supporting our troops

Chubb Benefits has been awarded a Gold Rating as a Military Friendly Employer for eight consecutive years. Since launching our veteran recruiting program in 2010, we have hired more than 6,000 veterans, military spouses, and their family members.

Embedded in American culture

  • Airing live on Christmas Eve from 1955-1962, INA sponsored the popular CBS Radio program “A Christmas Sing with Bing”, hosted by Bing Crosby, the undisputed voice of Christmas at the time. 
  • Chubb established and sponsored the Carefree Corner on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. in 1956.
  • Chubb entities have insured some of the most iconic, award-winning films of all time – From E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws and Saturday Night Fever to The Sting, The French Connection and Everything Everywhere All at Once. 
  • Today, as the official insurance partner of the US Open, Chubb is part of one of America’s most storied and prestigious sporting events — a Grand Slam tournament steeped in over a century of history, set against the electric backdrop of New York City.

Protecting what keeps American commerce moving forward

Chubb specialty division, Westchester, is one of the largest and most diverse excess and surplus lines underwriters in the United States. Many of the railroads Westchester insures today through its Tracks program have connected American communities for generations. Our role is not just to underwrite risk, but to help protect the transportation systems that will carry commerce into the next 250 years.

Part of the family, too

Through our Healthy Paws subsidiary, today Chubb insures more than 500,000 pets nationwide.

Taking care of our communities

The Chubb Charitable Foundation has granted nearly $100M to assist those less fortunate and to be stewards of the planet through meaningful initiatives that support our communities in the U.S. and around the world, providing lasting benefits to society in the areas of environment, education, poverty & health.

About Chubb

Today, Chubb is the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. We operate in all 50 states and in 53 other countries and territories worldwide. We insure 99 percent of the Fortune 1000. We serve businesses and families of every size. We recently opened a new office tower in Philadelphia—our largest office in North America—demonstrating our long-term commitment to a remarkable city and the birthplace of our company and our nation. Every policy, every claim, every promise kept traces its lineage back to our founding at Independence Hall in 1792, and to the values that continue to guide us: trust, resilience, leadership, and belief in American progress.