Transamerica Life Canada continues a tradition of service established more than 80 years ago.
In 1904, a young entrepreneur by the name of A.P. Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco. He wanted to provide financial services to small businesses and others not served by the established banks. Demand was high and his bank grew quickly. Giannini established Transamerica Corporation in 1928 as a holding company to support interstate branch banking and diversification. Two years later, Transamerica entered the life insurance business with the acquisition of the Occidental Life Insurance Company. TIME magazine would later call Giannini one of the “Builders and Titans” of the 20th century. In 1999, Transamerica was acquired by AEGON and became part of their worldwide network.
Throughout our history, Transamerica has helped millions of Canadians make decisions about important financial and insurance matters. We are leaders in our industry and proud to be the first to foster strong support of independent advisors in Canada. We are also one of the first Canadian insurance groups to offer products such as term insurance and universal life insurance as well as to provide special incentives such as non-smoker rates.
We continue to build on our rich history of providing consumers with exceptional products at competitive prices that drive strong value.
Bet you didn’t know this…

Transamerica founder, Amadeo Pietro Giannini, son of Italian immigrants, did a lot more than start Transamerica. He also:
- Helped nurture the motion picture and wine industries in California
- Provided capital to Walt Disney, Hewlett Packard and the Fiat factory in Italy after
World War II
- Purchased bonds that financed construction of the Golden Gate Bridge during the Great
Depression
- Became one of the first bankers to offer banking services to the middle class rather than just
the upper class