Ford, Robin --- "History: A History of Insurance Regulation in the UK" [2012] ELECD 165; in Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin (eds), "Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation

Editor(s): Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849807883

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: History: A History of Insurance Regulation in the UK

Author(s): Ford, Robin

Number of pages: 25

Extract:

11 History: a history of insurance regulation in the UK
Robin Ford



1. OVERVIEW

Although an Office of Assurances was established in the 1500s during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I, the regulation of insurance business in the UK really only began in earnest
with the Life Assurance Companies Act 1870. The 1870 Act initiated the first of four
phases in the development of UK insurance regulation which I outline in this chapter.
That legislation (and much of the legislation that was to follow) was largely enacted in
response to insurance firm collapses and scandals. It reflected a governmental approach
that was merely reactive and designed to limit any regulatory interference in the market to
the minimum necessary.
This approach held sway until the UK joined the European Economic Community
(EEC) in 1973.1 The Government then willingly accepted some enhanced regulation to
the extent necessary to make the EEC's market liberalising measures effective. The third
phase of regulation in the UK began in the mid-1980s with the Financial Services Act
1986 (applicable to most life insurance firms and life intermediaries). This Act initiated a
more prescriptive approach to regulation which saw the UK go well beyond mere
compliance with EEC requirements, yet the approach remained largely rules based, with
minimal oversight of firms' affairs by regulatory supervisors. By 2000, in the fourth phase,
the Government and the regulators had developed a more sophisticated regulatory
approach that was more outcomes focused, risk based, and interventionist.
These developments are ...