2020 Annual Report
Assurant was built to manage uncertainty. And throughout a most uncertain year, our resilience showed. We continued to make strategic investments, pursue emerging industry trends and strengthen our partnerships to drive an excellent customer experience. Carefully considered decisions made throughout the year positioned our operating segments well for continued success ahead.
54 MillionM
Covered Mobile Devices
49 MillionM
Covered Vehicles
2.4 MillionM
Renters Policies
Favorable industry trends and attachment rate drivers mean attractive growth prospects for our portfolio of market-leading businesses. Industry consolidation and global growth in mobile, housing and auto perfectly position Assurant to meet the convergence of technologies with real interoperability among smart homes, cars and mobile devices.
We’re pursuing deeper partnerships with leading brands and partners to sustain innovation and drive better customer experience. Assurant’s partnerships with seven of the top 10 global telecommunications brands(1), for example, well positions us to capitalize on strong industry trends such as the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), higher-priced 5G upgrades and growing demand for refurbished devices. And in Global Housing, we renewed 20 clients in our lender-placed business, representing more than 85 percent of our track loans since the beginning of 2019.
We continuously explore new avenues of service to meet evolving consumer needs. In Global Automotive, for example, ahead of the U.K.’s move toward electric vehicles (EVs) as a standard by 2035, we launched a new product for EVs and hybrids called EV One — our most comprehensive auto warranty to date. As cars increasingly become large connected devices, Assurant’s positioning in both mobile and auto puts us in the best position to offer consumers comprehensive, flexible protection for the technology they rely upon in the evolving EV market.
Assurant is a leader in innovation for the connected world — across devices, cars and home. Our Connected Decade research provides actionable insights that help us and our industry-leading connected living partners work together to enhance existing programs and create new ones that meet consumers’ needs, like our launch of Pocket Geek Home, which offers personalized tech support and bundled protection of at-home technology, including laptops and gaming systems.
Assurant’s investments and acquisitions in 2020 support our strategy by expanding our capabilities and offerings as we anticipate the ever-evolving needs of connected consumers. One way we’ve done this is through our acquisition of HYLA Mobile, a leading provider of smartphone software and trade-in and upgrade services, that scales our trade-in and upgrade offerings, adds new analytic capabilities and provides a complementary client base, including the largest mobile carriers, retailers and OEMs in North America and Japan. Through Assurant Growth Investing (AGI), we continue to invest in venture- and growth-stage technology companies that are complementary or disruptive to our core businesses. In 2020, AGI continued to invest in innovation despite a challenging environment. We made investments that aligned with our Connected World focus.