Article Abstract:
The US, Japan, Germany, France and Great Britain accounted for over 90% of the volume of insurance premiums in 1995 when they surpassed the $2 trillion mark for the first time. Life insurance, which garnered a 57.7% overall share, was particularly high in Japan, South Korea and South Africa. Global premium income increased by 3.7% in 1995 while performance of nonlife insurance products declined by 2.2%. Central European states as well as Southeast Asia enjoyed double-digit growth rates in life insurance.
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Article Abstract:
Developing countries are emerging as potentially lucrative markets for the insurance industry. The insurance industry has not been as quick to expand globally as its analogs in the financial services industry due to the lack of product standardization and the absence of cross-border insurance transaction activity. Markets that are conceived as ripe for infiltration in the insurance sector include the Chinese Economic Area, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, India, Poland, Indonesia and Turkey.
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Article Abstract:
Insurers and reinsurers in Scandinavian countries are likely to engage in mergers and acquisitions in the same way Western European companies have. Skandia Insurance Company Ltd. and Stadshypotek, which is partly owned by the Swedish government, plan to merge, creating a company with 45 billion krona in market value, approximately 2 million customers and 10,000 workers. Other insurers, such as Norway's Vital and Sweden's WASA Life Group, are cutting their staffs to reduce costs.
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