British America Assurance Company

British America Assurance Company

Formerly	British America Fire and Life Assurance Company (1833–1852)
Industry	Fire insurance
Founded	13 February 1833 (1833-02-13)
Defunct	1961 (1961)
Fate	Acquired by Royal Insurance and renamed the Royal Insurance Company of Canada
Headquarters	88 Scott Street, Toronto, Ontario

The company's 1876 head office, designed by William Irving.

The British America Assurance Company was a fire insurance company established in York, Upper Canada in 1833. An impressive headquarters building for it was designed by William Irving in 1877. The company expanded into the U.S. It also operated in Sydney and Adelaide. The company took hits during major conflagrations, such as the San Francisco fire of 1906.

In 1892, British America formed an alliance with the Western Assurance Company, whereby the two companies would retain the distinct identities but would come under the control of a single board of directors. Thereafter, the alliance was known as the Western Assurance–British America Assurance Group.

The Canadian subsidiary of the Royal Insurance Company (now RSA Insurance Group) acquired the British America Assurance Company and the Western Assurance Company in 1961. After the purchase, British America was renamed the Royal Insurance Company of Canada, while Western retained its identity. In 1978, the Royal Insurance Company of Canada and Western Assurance merged into a new corporation under the Royal name. However, Western remained a brand of Royal. In 2021, Royal Sun Alliance was acquired by Intact Financial.

The 1952 Western–British America Building at 88 Scott Street. It was designed by Parrott Tambling & Witmer.

William Botsford Jarvis was one of the company's founders.