Approximately 30 insurance companies are based in Wiesbaden. The spectrum includes primary insurers from all sectors as well as reinsurers. There are insurance companies of domestic and foreign origin and all legal forms of private law as well as public insurance companies; several thousand people work for these companies. Wiesbaden is also an attractive venue for insurance congresses and the headquarters of a specialist publishing house. The local vocational training center of the German insurance industry offers good opportunities for training and further education in the insurance industry.

The founding of an insurance company by Prince William V of Orange in 1774 marked the beginning of this development. In 1806 , Duke Friedrich August zu Nassau founded the Nassauische Brandversicherungsanstalt. In 1913, the Hessen-Nassau Lebensversicherungsanstalt was founded and in 1924 the Nassauische Landesversicherungsbank (from 1939 Hessen-Nassau Versicherungsanstalt) was established as a non-life insurer; today, these three insurance companies belong to the SV Sparkassenversicherung group of companies. This first phase of development was characterized by a regional focus.

After the Second World War, well-known insurance companies relocated their headquarters to Wiesbaden, including today's R+V Versicherung in 1947, Berlinische Lebensversicherung AG (since 2006 Delta Lloyd Lebensversicherung AG) in 1948 and the DBV Insurance Group (today DVB Holding AG in the AXA Group) in 1959. In 1974, the British Equity and Law established itself in Wiesbaden (E + L Lebensversicherung, now part of the AXA-Gerling Group) - the first foreign insurance company to do so.

Since the end of the 1990s, other foreign insurance companies have gained a foothold in Wiesbaden (e.g. Delta Lloyd Schadeverzekering NV, Amsterdam; Domestic & General Insurance PLC, Wimbledon; Wiener Städtische, Vienna, and most recently - in 2009 - the Belgian Delcredere, Brussels).

In the current phase, two factors - again coming from outside - have had a lasting impact on the Wiesbaden insurance industry in particular: the deregulation of the insurance market in Germany, which came into effect on 1 January 1995, and the ongoing national and international liberalization of the financial markets. The resulting changes in corporate structures have already taken place: Group formations involving banks, which were previously not permitted, have now been implemented. Further changes in this direction cannot be ruled out, but are likely: developments have been and continue to be in flux, and with them the image of Wiesbaden as an insurance location.