ABSTRACT

Insurance is a very prevalent feature of developed modem societies. In the field of life assurance, many mortgages are endowment mortgages, supported by a life policy, whilst investment insurance policies are very widely sold as savings vehicles, often in connection with private pension provision. Long-term business consists principally of life assurance, permanent health insurance and accident insurance, whilst everything else falls into the category of general business. The Insurance Companies Act 1982 imposes a regulatory system under which prior authorisation from the Department of Trade and Industry is required before carrying on insurance business. The First Non-life Directive and the First Life Directive began the process of harmonising the regulatory structure for insurance. The Second Life Directive and the Second non-Life Directive develop the harmonisation process. The Second Directive provisions largely remain in force, but from a practical point of view they have been substantially overtaken by the Third Life Directive and the Third non-Life Directive.