Thursday, May 20, 2010

World Insurance Companies

World Insurance Companies

The top insurance companies of the world make up a major part of the financial services worldwide, and a huge part of insurance worldwide. Adoption of financial market reforms by almost all the countries worldwide has given birth to a more competitive environment in this sector than in the past.

Despite the financial shakeout which began in September 2008, insurance companies are still forging ahead. While many people have lost their homes and jobs, insurance is one product many people cannot live without. Whether by law or by necessity, people still have car, health, life and other types of insurance in effect. Most of the top insurance companies of the world remain financially robust, with some exceptions.

Furthermore, with more people owning vehicles, homes, and more people earning greater amounts worldwide, the need to have them insured has emerged, creating an entirely new segment for the top insurance companies of the world. This is particularly true in emerging markets such as India and China where this phenomenal grotwh has occured.

Note that the housing slump and automotive meltdown in the US have put a considerable damper on adoption of new policies there, and in Europe, but again, India and China remain strong. The big insurers in this sector, including the top insurance companies of the world have stepped forward with their strategies to adapt to the changing global landscape and markets.

In this section we cover the top insurance companies of the world, their financial positions, and international operations. Apart from each company's performance, we cover the countries' participation in the insurance business such as the total number of insurers in each country and the total amount of premiums, including life premiums and non-life premiums.

Insurance is a major aspect in any kind of enterprise in the world since man knows what's there in store in future. The idea of insurance has been in practice since ancient days in some form or the other. The increasing importance of insurance has led to the emergence of a global insurance industry and insurance companies have gained in stature around the world.

History of Insurance Companies :

To talk about the insurance companies, insurance in modern form had occurred after the Great Fire in London in 1666 which destroyed myriad houses. Nicholas Barbon, following the disaster, had established England's first fire insurance company (The Fire Office) in1680. In the United States, the first insurance company which provided fire insurance was formed in in South Carolina, in 1732.The practice of perpetual insurance against fire was popularized by Benjamin Franklin. In 1752, he founded the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses . In India, the Oriental Life Insurance Company was started in 1818 by Europeans, much before independence.the first indigenous insurance company in India was started in the year 1870 in the form of Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society.

Types of Insurance Companies :


Insurance companies are mainly classified into:

Life insurance companies (those which deal with life insurance, annuities and pensions products)
Non-life or general insurance companies
The first category of insurance companies handles a long-term business, covering risks of a person's life or his/her pension over a long period of time. Examples of such insurance companies are: American National Insurance Company in the USA, the Life Insurance Corporation in India, etc.

As against that, non-life insurance companies usually cover a shorter period, like for example, American Medical Security Life Insurance Company in USA, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance of India, etc.

In most of the countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulations.

Besides, there are other kinds of insurance companies:

Mutual insurance companies are those insurance companies which are owned by the policyholders
Stock insurance companies are owned by stockholders
Reinsurance companies are those insurance companies that sell policies to other insurance companies to reduce risks and protect themselves from gigantic losses
Captive Insurance companies are limited purpose insurance companies established for financing risks arising from their parent group(s). [The types of risk include property damage, public and products liability, professional indemnity, etc.]
Insurance consultant companies are paid by the customer to find out the best insurance policy amongst various companies
Third party administrator companies perform underwriting and even sometimes claims handling services for insurance companies

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