Cornhill Insurance

Cornhill Insurance

The company's head office at 32, Cornhill
Industry	Insurance
Founded	1905 (1905)
Defunct	2007 (2007)
Fate	Acquired by Allianz
Headquarters	London, England

Cornhill Insurance was a major British insurance company based in London, England.

The company was founded by the directors of Willis Faber as a fire insurance company in 1905.¹² It moved to new offices at 32, Cornhill in London in the mid-1930s. The offices were designed by Gunton & Gunton in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and completed in 1935.³ A pair of doors for the building were sculpted in clay by Walter Gilbert and then carved in mahogany by B. P. Arnold at H. H. Martyn & Co.⁴

Thomas Tilling acquired a majority interest in the company in 1943.¹ The company became a major sponsor of test cricket, thereby significant increasing brand awareness, in 1978.⁵ After Tilling Group was acquired by BTR in 1983, Cornhill Insurance was marketed for sale: it was acquired by Allianz in 1986.¹ Cornhill Insurance went on to acquire the British Reserve Insurance Company in 1987,⁶ Petplan in May 1996⁷ and DBI Insurance in August 1999.⁸

Allianz decided to retire the brand in the early 21st century. It ceased sponsoring test cricket in 2001⁹¹⁰ and, after its closed life fund was sold to Britannic Assurance in December 2004,¹¹ the remaining business was rebranded as Allianz Insurance in April 2007.¹²