Transamerica life insurance

Overview

Transamerica is the U.S. life insurance and retirement business of Aegon, a Dutch-founded insurer now incorporated in Bermuda and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its main insurer is Transamerica Life Insurance Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Company, based in Harrison, New York, issues policies in New York. The Aegon US group ranked #10 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with $4.73 billion in premiums and a 3.03% market share.

Transamerica makes up about 70% of Aegon's operations and employs about 7,200 people. Its primary offices are in Cedar Rapids, Denver, Baltimore and Philadelphia. It sells term, indexed universal life (IUL), whole life and final expense coverage aimed at what it calls "Main Street" middle-income households. It also runs a large retirement plan business, mutual funds and workplace benefits.

Its most distinctive feature is distribution. Aegon owns World Financial Group (WFG), an affiliated network of more than 95,000 licensed agents in the U.S. and Canada, and Transamerica wrote more than 66% of WFG's U.S. life insurance sales in 2025. Transamerica products are also sold through the Transamerica Agency Network and other independent agents.

History

Transamerica Corporation was incorporated in Delaware in 1928. For decades it was a San Francisco conglomerate headquartered in the Transamerica Pyramid, with life insurance, commercial lending and leasing businesses. Its life companies included Transamerica Occidental Life. In July 1999 Aegon acquired Transamerica Corporation in a deal Aegon valued at $10.8 billion, which it described as the second-largest U.S. insurance transaction to that date. Aegon itself had been formed in 1983 by the merger of the Dutch insurance groups AGO and Ennia.

Aegon's U.S. business now operates mainly under the Transamerica and WFG brands. Today's main issuer, Transamerica Life Insurance Company, was formerly named PFL Life Insurance Company. Transamerica stopped selling variable universal life in New York in 2017 and elsewhere in 2018, and stopped selling standalone long-term care insurance in 2021.

Aegon now manages several older lines as "Financial Assets," largely closed blocks no longer sold. These include its legacy universal life book, long-term care policies, and variable annuities with interest-sensitive riders. In December 2025 it announced reinsurance covering 30% of the face value of its secondary-guarantee universal life business. At the same December 10, 2025 investor event, Aegon said it would move its head office and legal seat to the United States and rename itself Transamerica Inc., aiming to finish by January 1, 2028. Shareholders approved the move at an extraordinary general meeting in October 2026, clearing the way to shift the legal seat from Bermuda to Delaware and the head office from the Netherlands to New York; the New York Stock Exchange is expected to become the primary listing. As a first step, Aegon planned to exchange the special voting shares held by its largest shareholder, Vereniging Aegon, for ordinary common shares on October 15, 2026, leaving a single class of stock. Will Fuller has been president and CEO of Transamerica since March 2021.

Life insurance products

Transamerica's individual line focuses on protection products for middle-income buyers.

• Term life: Transamerica's site describes Trendsetter Super and Trendsetter LB term policies. According to Aegon's annual report, some term policies offer living benefit riders that pay part of the death benefit early for critical illness or chronic conditions.
• Indexed universal life: the Financial Foundation IUL line and Financial Choice IUL, launched in January 2023 for people who want to draw supplemental income from cash value. In November 2025 Transamerica added FFIUL II Express, which uses 100% instant-decision underwriting through a partnership with Bestow. It covers $50,000 to $500,000 for ages 18 to 70, with a 0.75% guaranteed minimum interest rate. Living benefit riders for terminal, chronic and critical illness, plus overloan protection, may be added automatically based on eligibility. Long-term care riders are available on IUL. Read IUL pros and cons: what the sales pitch leaves out before relying on illustrated rates.
• Whole life and final expense: FE Express Solution, introduced in September 2024, is a final expense whole life policy of up to $50,000 with level premiums and a digital application that can go from quote to policy in about 10 minutes. It includes an optional funeral concierge service from an outside provider at no added premium and is not sold in New York. Other final expense products are Immediate Solution, 10-Pay Solution and Easy Solution.

Other products

Transamerica sells registered index-linked and variable annuities, runs 401(k) and other retirement plans and Transamerica mutual funds, and is a top-five U.S. provider of workplace life insurance sold through employers, including group, term, whole and universal life. It also sells supplemental health, accident and disability coverage at work.

Buying and service

Most individual policies are sold by agents: WFG's independent agents, the Transamerica Agency Network and other independent agents. Instant-decision products such as FE Express and FFIUL II Express are applied for digitally with an agent, using text or email signatures and electronic delivery. Aegon aims to grow WFG to about 110,000 agents by 2027. Because WFG and other agents may represent several insurers, it is worth asking which companies an agent can quote (captive vs independent life insurance agents).

For service, Transamerica's Life Access customer portal lets owners view and manage policies online. Aegon said about 1.5 million more life policyowners gained access in 2025 and almost one in five customers now use it. Service contacts are on Transamerica's contact page and in policy documents.

Claims

Beneficiaries can start a death claim by calling Transamerica's life insurance service line, 800-797-2643, or through the agent who sold the policy. Claims are paid by the issuing company, Transamerica Life Insurance Company (or Transamerica Financial Life in New York). Expect to provide a certified death certificate and a completed claim form. Final expense buyers who add the optional funeral concierge rider get around-the-clock funeral-planning help, plus tools to prepare and store documents such as a will, from Everest Funeral Concierge, which is not a Transamerica affiliate. Group life claims through an employer go through Transamerica's employee benefits claims process. For the general steps, see how to file a life insurance claim.

Ratings and reputation

Transamerica's ratings sit in the A range, below the AA-range ratings of large competitors such as Pacific Life and John Hancock. As of December 31, 2025, Aegon reported financial strength ratings for its U.S. insurers of A+ from S&P, A1 from Moody's and A (Excellent) from AM Best. No Fitch rating was listed.

In the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, released in October 2026, Transamerica (AEGON) ranked 20th of 23 brands with 602 points, against a study average of 649, down from 18th in 2025.

Litigation has centered on universal life. Aegon's 2025 annual report says a U.S. subsidiary agreed in 2025 to settle a class action, filed in October 2022, over monthly deduction rate increases on universal life policies in 2022 and 2023. Plaintiffs in such cases argue that the increases recouped past losses rather than covering future insurance costs (universal life cost-of-insurance increases and what to do). Settlements were also reached in a class action alleging that bonuses were not paid on a block of universal life policies, and in a case alleging that several U.S. subsidiaries misclassified agents as independent contractors. As of March 2026, the two universal life settlements were awaiting final court approval.

Who it suits

Transamerica suits middle-income families who want term, IUL or small final expense policies with fast or instant decisions, and who are comfortable buying through an agent, often one affiliated with WFG. It is a weaker fit for buyers who put the most weight on top-tier financial strength ratings or customer satisfaction scores, or who want to buy without an agent.

• Strengths: Instant-decision IUL and final expense products; broad term, IUL and final expense lineup; Life Access online portal; a large parent that reports publicly in the U.S.
• Weaknesses: Ratings in the A range rather than AA; ranked 20th of 23 in J.D. Power's 2026 study; universal life rate-increase litigation; no direct purchase without an agent; parent restructuring and relocating through 2028.

How to contact Transamerica