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Abstract
This thesis is a pioneer study that examines the growing importance of global insurance
markets and the factors that determine continued success and viability. A couple of issues
relating to risk and insurance that have not been examined to such an extent in previous
studies are represented through the examination of two of the fastest growing areas
within international insurance services, namely those of global bancassurance and life
insurance markets. Firstly, this thesis establishes what determines the demand for
bancassurance using a sample of 73 companies from 28 developed and developing
countries from across the globe. Methodological improvements are made on previous
studies through the use of the advanced estimation technique known as Generalized
Method of Moments (GMM) which helps account for such inconsistencies as
measurement errors, heteroscedasticity, multicollinearity and endogeneity. The results
obtained both extend and reconcile existing literature in the field of bancassurance.
Secondly, the determinants that influence the level of life insurance consumption
throughout the OECD are scrutinized with a particular focus on the influence of systems
of law. Thus far no other study has attempted to discover the relationship between life
insurance consumption patterns and the legal systems in place within a given nation. The
key finding highlights the importance of systems of law on consumption patterns, and
specifies that there is a significant positive relationship between the French and German
civil-law systems and the level of life insurance consumption within the OECD. In
addition, the findings in regards to other demographic, macroeconomic and social
determinants extend as well as support the existing literature in the field of life insurance.