Nationwide’s mutual advantage

In the insurance industry, not all carriers are structured and organized the same way. In fact, over the years, a wide variety of insurance companies have evolved and taken different forms. Two of the most common structures of insurance carriers today are stock and mutual structures.

While few in the industry call much attention to this difference (other than sometimes having the word “mutual” in their name), it’s an important distinction. As a mutual insurance company, Nationwide believes this structure best aligns with our corporate philosophy and what’s most beneficial to our members.

The power of a modern mutual

Because of our mutual structure, Nationwide consistently makes decisions that support the long-term interests of our company and our policyholders. After more than a century, our longevity testifies to this fact. Like many mutual companies, a conservative approach to managing capital has seen us through multiple economic downturns over the decades.

Nationwide strives to put members’ best interests at the forefront of decision-making. When short-term financial incentives may be at odds with policyholder needs, Nationwide focuses on the long term. This approach is built into the structure of mutual insurance companies.

How Nationwide’s mutual structure benefits members

We offer our members a wide range of coverage lines and maintain an intentionally diverse portfolio, supporting a broad array of innovative products designed to endure over the long term. This approach strengthens our resilience and enables us to weather market cycles while creating strategic growth opportunities for our partners.

We focus on continuous improvement, and we take pride in listening and responding to our members’ needs, which is where some of our best new ideas come from. Because our focus is on long-term value for our members rather than short-term results, we take a more agile and flexible approach to innovation. We invest in vetting new ideas and giving them the time and resources necessary to pursue them properly and we shift our approach when our new pursuits don’t go as planned, learning from insights gained along the way.

Our enduring advantage for agents and brokers

Our agents and brokers benefit from our commitment to long-term planning and re-investing surplus funds. In fact, we’ve invested billions of dollars in transforming our core platform and digitizing the experience of our distribution partners. 

In turn, this has increased speed and efficiency and made it easier to do business with us. This helps us provide a better product and more streamlined experience to our members, advantages that can be difficult to sustain when decision-making is driven primarily by short-term financial goals. 

Another advantage we offer agents and brokers is a high level of member satisfaction. Mutual insurance companies consistently outperform stock insurance companies in customer satisfaction surveys.¹ Our partners tell us this all the time: They don’t have to sell the Nationwide brand. It sells itself.

Positioned for long-term success

As we’ve seen, this is not a marketing ploy. It’s simply an accurate description of the role policyholders play in shaping our future. The mutual relationship gives everything we do a natural membership focus and a commitment to long-term growth—qualities that are fundamental to who we are and how we serve our partners.