CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Disability insurer UnumProvident Corp. is changing its name to resemble one it had before: Unum Group.

UnumProvident, which insures more than 21 million people and paid $6 billion in benefits last year, was created through the 1999 merger of Provident Cos. of Chattanooga and Unum Corp. of Portland, Maine.

A company statement Tuesday said the Chattanooga-based insurer was simplifying its name to Unum as “part of a larger branding initiative the company is undertaking.” The name change signifies the emergence of a “new company, while at the same time capitalizing on tremendous brand equity built over many years,” the statement said.

Thomas R. Watjen, president and CEO, described the company as “stronger today than we’ve ever been, and we believe we are well positioned to withstand the challenges and capitalize on the many opportunities that lie ahead.”

Watjen, promoted to the insurer’s top job in September 2003, has previously said that changes under his leadership cleansed the insurer of an “arrogance” brought about by its market dominance.

Company executives said the name change to Unum Group will be used pending required approvals. In the meantime, the company will use the name Unum in the marketplace.

The last time the company was called Unum it was based in Maine, had a nationwide reputation for its worker-friendly environment, and was routinely named to Fortune and Working Mothers magazines’ list of best companies to work for in America.

With the merger in 1999, the Unum name was changed to UnumProvident, the work day was lengthened, and pay raises were postponed. There was extensive staff turnover and the company’s longtime corporate logo, a lighthouse, was dumped.

Company spokesman Jim Sabourin said the name change was “anything but a step back.”

He said Unum is already a familiar Wall Street moniker, and the change is intended to “capitalize on the best equity we have built up.”

Under the name UnumProvident, the company has faced accusations of withholding payments on claims and ended an investigation by regulators with a multistate agreement to reconsider about 200,000 claims and pay a $15 million fine.

J. Harold Chandler, who was fired as UnumProvident’s president and chief executive officer after overseeing a $20 per share drop in stock value in four years amid lawsuits by investors and claims-handling complaints, sued the company in 2003, contending his $17 million severance and retirement package should be bigger.

The company increased Chandler’s severance package to $20.2 million to settle the lawsuit.

In November, UnumProvident in an unrelated action ended what New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer described as deceptive practices and secret payments to brokers, according to a $15.5 million settlement.

The insurer agreed to pay restitution to policy holders and a civil penalty of $1.9 million. The company has said the practices prohibited by the settlement were common in the industry.

Unum’s three primary business units will be known as Unum US, Unum UK and Colonial. The names of the company’s insurance entities that market and sell its products, including Unum Life Insurance Co. of America, Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co., The Paul Revere Life Insurance Co., and Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co. will not change.

The Chattanooga-based company continues to have a major presence in Portland, Maine. The company has about 12,000 employees worldwide, including 3,000 in Portland and another 3,000 in Chattanooga.

Associated Press writer Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine, contributed to this story.