Bojan Srbinoski, Klime Poposki, Patricia Born, Karel Van Hulle
{"title":"Regulatory examinations and life insurance development","authors":"Bojan Srbinoski, Klime Poposki, Patricia Born, Karel Van Hulle","doi":"10.1108/jfrc-09-2021-0077","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\n<p>Solvency and market conduct regulations play a crucial role in supporting life insurance development by boosting consumer confidence and securing a stable environment for insurers to write business. The regulation encapsulates not only the legal framework but also its enforcement. This study aims to focus on the latter and investigate the impact of solvency and market conduct examinations on life insurance development within a homogenous legal environment in the USA.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\n<p>To test the relationship between the regulatory examinations and life insurance development, this study uses annual data for 51 US states over the period 2013–2018 and uses fixed and random effects panel regressions controlling for the possible omitted variables bias and serial correlation. This study constructs two groups of indicators to measure the robustness and ability of regulators to prevent insolvencies and opportunistic market practices and estimate their effects on market development.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Findings</h3>\n<p>The results show that more stringent regulators with respect to solvency examinations deter life insurers from their markets and channel to those markets with lenient examiners, hurting the development of life insurance in the stringent states. Additionally, regulators boost consumer confidence by providing robust market conduct practices, which results in higher life insurance demand.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Originality/value</h3>\n<p>This study contributes to the debates about the pros and cons of the current state-led regulation in the USA and the general benefits/costs of regulation for insurance market development.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44814,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jfrc-09-2021-0077","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose
Solvency and market conduct regulations play a crucial role in supporting life insurance development by boosting consumer confidence and securing a stable environment for insurers to write business. The regulation encapsulates not only the legal framework but also its enforcement. This study aims to focus on the latter and investigate the impact of solvency and market conduct examinations on life insurance development within a homogenous legal environment in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the relationship between the regulatory examinations and life insurance development, this study uses annual data for 51 US states over the period 2013–2018 and uses fixed and random effects panel regressions controlling for the possible omitted variables bias and serial correlation. This study constructs two groups of indicators to measure the robustness and ability of regulators to prevent insolvencies and opportunistic market practices and estimate their effects on market development.
Findings
The results show that more stringent regulators with respect to solvency examinations deter life insurers from their markets and channel to those markets with lenient examiners, hurting the development of life insurance in the stringent states. Additionally, regulators boost consumer confidence by providing robust market conduct practices, which results in higher life insurance demand.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the debates about the pros and cons of the current state-led regulation in the USA and the general benefits/costs of regulation for insurance market development.
期刊介绍:
Since its inception in 1992, the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance has provided an authoritative and scholarly platform for international research in financial regulation and compliance. The journal is at the intersection between academic research and the practice of financial regulation, with distinguished past authors including senior regulators, central bankers and even a Prime Minister. Financial crises, predatory practices, internationalization and integration, the increased use of technology and financial innovation are just some of the changes and issues that contemporary financial regulators are grappling with. These challenges and changes hold profound implications for regulation and compliance, ranging from macro-prudential to consumer protection policies. The journal seeks to illuminate these issues, is pluralistic in approach and invites scholarly papers using any appropriate methodology. Accordingly, the journal welcomes submissions from finance, law, economics and interdisciplinary perspectives. A broad spectrum of research styles, sources of information and topics (e.g. banking laws and regulations, stock market and cross border regulation, risk assessment and management, training and competence, competition law, case law, compliance and regulatory updates and guidelines) are appropriate. All submissions are double-blind refereed and judged on academic rigour, originality, quality of exposition and relevance to policy and practice. Once accepted, individual articles are typeset, proofed and published online as the Version of Record within an average of 32 days, so that articles can be downloaded and cited earlier.