Table of Contents

Introduction3

Origin4

Post-war growth6

1970 Reorganization9

Expansion of services in 1980 and 199011

During 1990- 200012

Recent14

References15

References16

Introduction

In recent years, San Antonio--based USAA, led by CEO Josue Robles Jr., has steadily grown its pool of consumers. In 1996 it opened up to the enlisted. Now it has expanded from insurance to investments to checking, and to everyone who has honorably served their dependents, their children, and their children's children. As Bob Meara, a senior analyst at Celent says, "Now it's pretty much if you know anyone who is in the service." (Fred, pp. 56)

They're not the only ones who see the potential. Wells Fargo's Alicia Faugier, who heads up Wells' military banking operation, says it is stepping up its financial services training for service members and spouses. Many other banks are also developing an app so users can deposit checks via their smartphones—useful in places like Iraq (Chordas, pp. 113).

USAA was, says the bank's president David Bohne, "an Internet company before the Internet was created." The company has another edge when it comes to the major players: customer service. Forrester tracks satisfaction by how strongly people feel about the statement "My financial provider does what's best for me, not just its own bottom line." USAA consistently outpaces the big banks, thanks to devotees like Sonia Nelson, a Vero Beach, Fla., widow of a 1950s vet and 50-year member who can't remember ever being placed on hold. Banks such as HSBC and Citi are near the bottom (Paul, pp. 198). That relaxing of restrictions gives USAA (No. 17 on Fortune's list of Best Companies to Work For) room to grow: There are 61 million people in the U.S. military community. USAA, with nearly 8 million, could expand dramatically by catering to that group alone (Christensen, pp. 16).

With a 2% market share of total checking accounts to Chase's 14%, USAA is far from conquering the market, and mobile banking is not yet replacing branch banking. But the company is increasingly going head-to-head with the big guys. "The only sandbox we want to be in," Bohne claims, "is with our military men and women." That sandbox is getting bigger and bigger (LexisNexis Academic Company, pp. 4).

Origin

USAA was founded in 1922, when William Henry Harrison in Gunter Hotel San Antonio, Texas. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss personnel to the auto insurance problem. Because of their frequent moves, agents often find that their policy is very expensive, and could easily be canceled. In addition, many insurance companies are not authentic. There is no regularity, so that they have not previously insured policyholders (VanderMey, pp. 54).

25 people attended the meeting which was arranged by Garrison. He decided to set up a joint company, to protect each other. It is based on joint army fire insurance. Since 1887 in Fort Leavenworth - a new company named United States Army Automobile Association. The agreement was signed and the President, Vice President and parliament have been established. These all are active duty officers. Shortly thereafter, the manager named Harold Dutton ...