Sompo Holdings was formed in 2010 after the merger of the former Sompo Japan and Nipponkoa Insurance. The name Sompo, which literally just means "nonlife insurance" in Japanese, was adopted as a common brand in 2001 for a planned three-way merger of Yasuda Fire, Nissan Fire, and Taisei Fire, although that deal had to be reworked after Taisei Fire's sudden bankruptcy from Sept. 11 losses. In the last few years Sompo has worked to integrate the former Nipponkoa, which before the merger had been somewhat of an industry laggard, to improve overall efficiency. Although Nissan Fire is one of its predecessor firms, in reality Sompo's development has been mainly driven by the former Yasuda Fire and the group has balanced ties to most of Japan's automakers, rather than focusing on Nissan.