Gjensidige Forsikring ASA is a Norwegianinsurance company. The company traces its roots back to 1816 when a firemutual was founded as Land Gjensidige Brandkasse in what is today Oppland county. Gjensidige demutualised and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in December 2010. The firm, headquartered in Oslo, has a market share of some 25% in the Norwegian insurancemarket. The company has 36 branch offices in Norway, not including affiliated fire mutuals, and 1 million customers. Gjensidige has subsidiaries in Denmark, Sweden and The Baltics. The company offers all kinds of insurance for Retail customers, agriculture and business. It also offers retail banking products through its subsidiary Gjensidige Bank as well as pensions and savings products.
History
Although the Company traces its roots back to 1816, the brand name Gjensidige originates from the life insurance company Christiania almindelige gjensidige forsørgelsesanstalt that was established in 1847. In the early 1970s the p&c-company traded under the name Samtrygd, whereas the life insurance company had simplified its name to Gjensidige Liv. The two companies formed a strategic alliance in 1976, adopting Gjensidige as a joint brand name, but as both companies were mutually owned they did not merge. In 1992 Gjensidige acquired Forenede Forsikring and in 1993 Gjensidige Bank was created with banking services. In 1999 Gjensidige and the savings bankSparebanken NOR created the Gjensidige NOR-group. The Group was a strategic alliance between mutually owned companies. When Gjensidige NORmerged with Den norske Bank in 2003 to form DnB NOR, Gjensidige Forsikring remained an independent company. In 2007 Gjensidige acquired shares in Storebrand, and for some time held the position as the number one shareholder with 24.33% of the stock. The entire shareholding was sold in 2014. In 2010 Gjensidige demutualised and was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The Gjensidige Foundation is the largest owner with some 62 percent of the shares.
