automobile association type reciprocal industry insurance banking financial services founded june 20 1922 ; 94 years ago 1922 06 20 headquarters san antonio texas united states number of locations 19 financial centers 1 2 area served worldwide key people general lester lyles usaf ret . chairman stuart parker usaf ret . ceo products insurance banking investments retirement financial planning brokerage revenue usd 24.36 billion 2015 3 net income usd 2.272 billion 2015 3 aum usd 128 billion 2015 3 total assets usd 137.076 billion 2015 3 total equity usd 27.8 billion 2015 3 members 11.4 million 2015 3 number of employees 28 200 2015 3 capital ratio 13.27 % rating a.m. best company a superior highest of 16 possible ratings moody s investors service aaa exceptional highest of 21 possible ratings standard & poor s aa very strong second highest of 21 possible ratings website www.usaa.com the united services automobile association usaa is a texas based fortune 500 4 diversified financial services group of companies 5 including a texas department of insurance regulated 6 reciprocal inter insurance exchange and subsidiaries offering banking investing and insurance to people and families that serve or served in the united states military . at the end of 2015 there were 11.4 million members . 7 usaa was founded in 1922 by a group of u.s. army officers as a mechanism for mutual self insurance when they were unable to secure auto insurance because of the perception that they as military officers were a high risk group . 8 usaa has since expanded to offer banking and insurance services to past and present members of the armed forces officers and enlisted and their immediate families . the company was one of the pioneers of direct marketing and most of its business is conducted over the internet or telephone using employees instead of agents . contents 1 history 2 lines of business 2.1 property casualty and life insurance 2.2 banking 2.3 investing and financial planning 2.4 other business 3 target market 4 legal structure 4.1 returning profits to the insured 5 miscellaneous information 5.1 leadership 5.2 oversight 5.3 service ratings 6 employment 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit the organization was originally called the united states army automobile association . in 1924 the name was changed to united services automobile association when commissioned officers of other u.s. military services became eligible for membership . the company opened offices in frankfurt germany and london england early in its history . the company was formed based on a meeting of twenty five united states army officers on june 22 1922 at the gunter hotel to discuss the procurement of reliable and economical auto insurance . usaa is headquartered in san antonio texas occupying 286 acres 116 ha a former horse farm 9 in the largest single occupancy office building in the world exceeding the size of the the pentagon on the city s northwest side . 10 usaa is a pioneer of the concept of direct marketing ; most of its business is conducted over the internet or telephone using employees instead of agents . until the 1960s the bulk of its business was conducted via mail . in the late 1960s usaa began a transition from mail to phone based sales and service . a toll free number was launched in 1978 and internet sales and service were launched in 1999 via its website . the organization started offering homeowner s and life insurance in the 1960s and brokerage and investment management services in the 1970s and banking services in the 1980s . usaa offered restricted membership to civilians between september 2009 and august 2013 . this membership provided access to usaa s investment products most bank deposit products and life insurance . auto and property insurance policies were not included for non military members due to eligibility restrictions . 11 lines of business edit property casualty and life insurance edit usaa offers a range of personal property and casualty p & c insurance including automobile insurance homeowner insurance renters insurance as well as umbrella and personal property insurance . in addition to p & c insurance usaa provides whole life insurance term life insurance and annuities . usaa s life insurance policies while not completely unique in the industry are different from most offerings since they do not include a war exclusion clause 12 banking edit banking services are provided by usaa federal savings bank . the bank was established on december 30 1983 . according to usaa s 2015 annual report to members usaa held over 62.549 billion in deposits with more than 6.3 million accounts making the company the 28th largest bank in the world . this is remarkable as the company has a sole branch at its headquarters in san antonio texas . 13 usaa federal savings bank s bank lobby located in san antonio is its only full service banking location . other cities however hold financial centers often near military bases which provide advice and assistance in obtaining services of any kind offered by usaa in addition to opening those accounts online . limited service locations or financial centers can not process deposits or withdrawals other than those conducted at usaa atms located at the financial centers ; atm in addition to teller withdrawals and deposits may also be made at the bank lobby in san antonio texas . banking services can be accessed in person by mail by phone or through the internet . usaa federal savings bank provides members with the ability to deposit checks to their accounts using mobile applications on the apple iphone and ipad 14 mobile devices with google s android operating system 15 and microsoft s windows phone . 16 usaa was the first bank in the world to develop and deploy remote depositing by the apple iphone and holds a patent to this technology that has since been licensed widely by the banking industry across the world . usaa also offers atm fee rebates up to 15 month free standard checks for the life of the account free online bill pay and bank by mail services . usaa was one of the few major banks to begin offering american express cards in 2006 in addition to their traditional offering of mastercard . usaa was one of the few banks that were part of the initial rollout of apple s apple pay . usaa has released that over one million members are using apple s touch id utilizing their fingerprint to securely log on to the usaa mobile application on apple s iphones and ipads . 17 major banking competitors include bank of america military bank pentagon federal credit union 18 and the navy federal credit union . investing and financial planning edit usaa provides a discount brokerage service and a family of no load mutual funds . mutual funds established by other companies and can be purchased as well as held by usaa investment accounts or imco . usaa also offers free financial advice to members as well as services which require agreement to pay a given fixed rate for services such as financial planning service . other business edit through its alliance services company asc usaa runs a mail order catalog service specializing in the sale of diamonds and jewelry . in addition to the above asc has secured a variety of discounted services for its members . these include travel related services obtained through rental car alliances with avis budget group and hertz corporation for example as well as discounts on cruise travel . their retail alliances incorporate others such as ftd 19 fedex and adt security services . 20 for its own investment purposes usaa operates a real estate company 21 which has holdings including major office buildings industrial buildings federal government buildings hotels and other major properties throughout the country with an excess of 15 billion of assets under management . some of these include holdings include 340 madison avenue new york new york 22 700 sixth street washington d.c. 23 potomac yard i & ii arlington virginia 24 the shops at la cantera san antonio texas 25 the shops at norterra parkway phoenix arizona 26 igloo products corporation katy texas 27 johnson & johnson distribution center pennsylvania 28 home depot regional distribution center phoenix arizona 29 tbc distribution center charleston south carolina 30 5195 fermi drive fairfield california 31 the coleman company kansas city kansas 32 nuclear regulatory commission rockville maryland 33 gsa charlotte charlotte north carolina 34 university of phoenix tempe arizona 34 buckhead village atlanta georgia 35 the banks cincinnati ohio 36 the boardwalk at town center houston texas 37 campus north one princeton new jersey 38 paradise valley medical plaza phoenix arizona 39 village shoppes at windermere atlanta georgia 40 wampanoag plaza east providence rhode island 41 the mondrian at cityplace dallas texas 42 villa rosa i & ii dallas texas 43 grandview austin texas 44 target market edit usaa s mission statement indicates its focus to serve its niche market which consists of members of the u.s. military and their immediate families . to that end the association has always marketed directly to members of the u.s. military . usaa membership is offered to officers and enlisted personnel including those on active duty those in the national guard and reserve officer candidates in commissioning programs academy rotc ocs ots and all those who have served in the aforementioned categories and who have retired or have been discharged honorably . 45 46 children of usaa members are also eligible to purchase usaa s p & c insurance products and former members of usaa are allowed to resume membership at any time without an age limit . eligibility can be determined using its website ; 47 however the site does not contain a comprehensive statement of eligibility . usaa has in the past published a list 48 of other eligible persons including special agents of the fbi and secret service agents of the various military investigative services ncis osi ci and cid u.s. foreign service officers and officers from a variety of other smaller agencies . recently usaa has been sharpening its focus on members of the military . so people working for certain non military agencies that were accommodated in the past may find that they are no longer eligible . 49 historically only u.s. military officers among certain other federally sworn officers were eligible to join usaa with descendants of usaa members able to purchase insurance from usaa cic . it did not matter if one was an active duty or retired officer ; one could join at any time . in 1973 membership was opened to members of the national guard and reserves and in 1996 eligibility was expanded to enlisted members of the armed services . as the number of persons who have served on active duty in an enlisted status in the u.s. armed forces is quite large usaa chose to limit the establishment of eligibility to those who were currently on active duty or who had recently separated . the same time limit on establishment of eligibility was then applied to military officers . as usaa s capacity for taking on new members expanded eligibility criteria relaxed . in 2008 usaa expanded membership eligibility to all military personnel and retirees and all veterans who separated after 1996 . 45 in november 2009 usaa expanded eligibility requirements to offer coverage to anyone who has ever served honorably in the us military . 46 auto and property insurance and some banking services require that the customer meet membership eligibility criteria . usaa investment products 50 as well as deposit only banking services 51 are available to non members . 52 of the top ten automobile insurance competitors usaa is the only provider that restricts service to members of the united states military and their immediate families . 53 legal structure edit one of the characteristics that allows usaa to