Security National Financial Corporation operates in three main business segments:
life insurance, cemetery and mortuary, and mortgage loans. The life insurance
segment is engaged in the business of selling and servicing selected lines of
life insurance, annuity products, and accident and health insurance. These products
are marketed in 38 states through a commissioned sales force of independent
licensed insurance agents who may also sell insurance products of other companies.
The cemetery and mortuary segment consists of seven mortuaries and five cemeteries
in the state of Utah and one cemetery in the state of California. The Company
also engages in pre-need selling of funeral, cemetery, mortuary and cremation
services through its Utah and California operations. Many of the insurance agents
also sell pre-need funeral, cemetery and cremation services. The mortgage loan
segment originates and underwrites or otherwise purchases residential and commercial
loans for new construction, existing homes and real estate projects. The mortgage
loan segment operates through 121 wholesale and retail offices in 23 states,
and is an approved mortgage lender in several other states.
The Companys design and structure are that each business segment is related
to the other business segments and contributes to the profitability of the other
segments. The Companys cemetery and mortuary segment provides a level of public
awareness that assists in the sales and marketing of insurance and pre-need
cemetery and funeral products. The Companys insurance segment invests their
assets (including, in part, pre-paid funeral products and services) in investments
authorized by the respective insurance departments of their states of domicile.
The Company also pursues growth through acquisitions. The Companys mortgage
segment provides mortgage loans and real estate investment opportunities.
The Company was organized as a holding company in 1979, when Security National
Life Insurance Company ("Security National Life") became a wholly
owned subsidiary of the Company and the former stockholders of Security National
Life became stockholders of the Company. Security National Life was formed in
1965 and has acquired or purchased significant blocks of business which include
Capital Investors Life Insurance Company (1994), Civil Service Employees Life
Insurance Company (1995), Southern Security Life Insurance Company (1998), Menlo
Life Insurance Company (1999), Acadian Life Insurance Company (2002), Paramount
Security Life Insurance Company (2004), Memorial Insurance Company of America
(2005), Capital Reserve Life Insurance Company (2007), Southern Security Life
Insurance Company, Inc. (2008), North America Life Insurance Company (2011,
2015), Trans-Western Life Insurance Company (2012), Mothe Life Insurance Company
(2012), DLE Life Insurance Company (2012) and American Republic Insurance Company
(2015).
The cemetery and mortuary operations have also grown through the acquisition
of other cemetery and mortuary companies. The cemetery and mortuary companies
that the Company has acquired are Holladay Memorial Park, Inc. (1991), Cottonwood
Mortuary, Inc. (1991) and Deseret Memorial, Inc. (1991).
In 1993, the Company formed SecurityNational Mortgage Company ("SecurityNational
Mortgage") to originate and refinance residential mortgage loans. In 2012,
the Company formed Green Street Mortgage Services, Inc. ("Green Street
Mortgage") also to originate and refinance residential mortgage loans.
Green Street Mortgage ceased its operations on March 31, 2015, but has elected
to maintain several licenses and approvals.
The Company, through Security National Life, issues and distributes selected
lines of life insurance and annuities. The Companys life insurance business
includes funeral plans and interest-sensitive life insurance, as well as other
traditional life, accident and health insurance products. The Company places
specific marketing emphasis on funeral plans through pre-need planning. The
Companys other insurance subsidiaries, Memorial Insurance Company of America
("Memorial Insurance Company"), Southern Security Life Insurance Company,
Inc. ("Southern Security") and Trans-Western Life Insurance Company
("Trans-Western"), service and maintain policies that were purchased
prior to their acquisition by Security National Life.
The Companys annuity business includes single premium deferred annuities,
flexible premium deferred annuities and immediate annuities. A single premium
deferred annuity is a contract where the individual remits a sum of money to
the Company, which is retained on deposit until such time as the individual
may wish to annuitize or surrender the contract for cash. A flexible premium
deferred annuity gives the contract holder the right to make premium payments
of varying amounts or to make no further premium payments after his initial
payment. These single and flexible premium deferred annuities can have initial
surrender charges. The surrender charges act as a deterrent to individuals who
may wish to prematurely surrender their annuity contracts. An immediate annuity
is a contract in which the individual remits a sum of money to the Company in
return for the Companys obligation to pay a series of payments on a periodic
basis over a designated period of time, such as an individuals life, or for
such other period as may be designated.
With the acquisition of Capital Investors in 1994, the Company acquired a small
block of accident and health policies. Since 1999, the Company has offered a
low-cost comprehensive divers accident policy that provides worldwide coverage
for medical expense reimbursement in the event of a diving accident.
The primary purpose of reinsurance is to enable an insurance company to issue
an insurance policy in an amount larger than the risk the Company is willing
to assume for itself. The Company remains obligated for the amounts reinsured
(ceded) in the event the reinsurers do not meet their obligations.
Through its cemetery and mortuary operations, the Company markets a variety
of products and services both on a pre-need basis (prior to death) and an at-need
basis (at the time of death). The products include: plots, interment vaults,
mausoleum crypts, markers, caskets, flowers and other death care related products.
These services include: professional services of funeral directors, opening
and closing of graves, use of chapels and viewing rooms, and use of automobiles
and clothing. The Company has a mortuary at each of its cemeteries, other than
Holladay Memorial Park and Singing Hills Memorial Park, and has three separate
stand-alone mortuary facilities.
The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, SecurityNational Mortgage
is active in the residential real estate market. SecurityNational Mortgage is
approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the
Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage
Corporation (Freddie Mac), and other secondary market investors, to originate
a variety of residential mortgage loan products, which are subsequently sold
to investors. The Company uses internal and external funding sources to fund
mortgage loans. Green Street Mortgage ceased its operations on March 31, 2015.
The Company has elected to maintain several licenses and approvals that would
allow Green Street Mortgage to resume originating mortgage loans.