Our History

Starr Companies is comprised of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc. (C.V. Starr) and Starr International USA, Inc. (Starr International USA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Starr International Company, Inc. (Starr International). C.V. Starr is a private holding company with insurance general agencies and a portfolio of global investment. The insurance companies of Starr Companies consist of the two subsidiaries of Starr International USA, Starr Indemnity & Liability Company and Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company.

The shared history of Starr Companies can be traced back to December 1919, when Cornelius Vander Starr founded an insurance agency in Shanghai, China.

On December 19, 1919, Starr, with two clerks and two rooms, opened an insurance agency offering fire and marine coverage. Throughout the 1920s, Starr established branches across China, and in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Saigon, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and the Philippines.

Starr formed Starr International in September 1943 in Panama. During the 1940s, Starr International became the parent company to all of the overseas agency companies. Today, Starr International is a private insurance holding company with four insurance subsidiaries, a Lloyd's syndicate and an investment portfolio.

C. V. Starr was incorporated in 1950 and served as the senior policy-making board for all of Starr's companies. At that time, C. V. Starr was the parent company of the domestic agencies conducting the home-foreign business and other specialized domestic agency operations. C. V. Starr's subsidiaries continued to grow throughout the next two decades.