Item 1. BUSINESS.
General
Beneficial Corporation (Beneficial or Company) was organized under the laws of the State of Delaware on May 9, 1929, through the consolidation of three companies which had been operated under the same management. The Company traces its origin to 1914 when its first consumer loan office was opened. The Company is a holding company, subsidiaries of which are engaged principally in the consumer finance and credit-related insurance businesses. Operations conducted by the subsidiaries consist principally of a 1,130-office consumer finance network located in the United States, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom; Personal Mortgage Corporation, a direct response mortgage lending unit, which originates second mortgage loans chiefly in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions; Beneficial National Bank USA, a specialized privatelabel credit card bank located in Delaware; Beneficial Credit Services, which is engaged in sales finance activities; Beneficial National Bank, a full service commercial bank located in Delaware, which is also engaged in making income tax refund anticipation loans; The Central National Life Insurance Company of Omaha and its subsidiary, First Central National Life Insurance Company of New York, which underwrite life and disability consumer credit insurance; Wesco Insurance Company, which provides credit property insurance; BFC Insurance Limited which is located in Ireland and underwrites life, accident and health insurance; and Harbour Island Inc. and subsidiaries, which are engaged in real estate development in Florida. Beneficial and its subsidiaries employed approximately 9,000 people at December 31, 1995.
For information concerning various factors that affected operations during 1995, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" under Item 7.