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Throwback Thursday: Colonial Mutual’s business boost

Throwback Thursday

Insurance Post’s Throwback Thursday steps back in time to September 1945 to remind you what was going on this week in insurance history when Colonial Mutual was boasting of “unprecedented progress” during the Second World War.

15 September 1945: Colonial Mutual’s business boost

The front page of Post was dominated by an advertisement from Colonial Mutual pointing out that “throughout the darkest days in the Empire’s history” the provider had “achieved unprecedented progress”.

During 1939 assets increased by £1.7m in 1939, £1.8m in 1940, £2m in 1941, £1.9m in 1942, £2.3m in 1943, and £2.8m in 1944.

To put that in today’s money, Colonial Mutual made £62m in 1939, £65.6m in 1940, £72.9m in 1941, £69.2m in 1942, £83.8m in 1943 and £102m in 1944.

Colonial Mutual was acquired by the Commonwealth Bank in 2000, and the Colonial name is now part of the Commonwealth Bank’s Colonial First State subsidiary.

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