IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cnb/wpaper/2021-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Non-linear Effects of Market Concentration on the Underwriting Profitability of the Non-life Insurance Sector in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Janku
  • Ondrej Badura

Abstract

Recent studies argue that more attention needs to be paid to the insurance sector in analyses of the financial sector, as it may be a significant factor in maintaining overall financial stability. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between market concentration and the underwriting profitability of the non-life insurance sector. We find that an increasing level of concentration over time leads, on average, to an increase in underwriting profitability (as proxied by the loss ratio). At high levels of concentration, however, this effect reverses, with rising concentration reducing underwriting profitability. The convex (U-shaped) nature of this relationship implies that the strongest incentives for collusive behavior arise when concentration is lowest. Additionally, we show that during a period of lower rates, weaker interest returns are offset by stronger underwriting results. However, this effect seems to be conditional on a high level of concentration.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Janku & Ondrej Badura, 2021. "Non-linear Effects of Market Concentration on the Underwriting Profitability of the Non-life Insurance Sector in Europe," Working Papers 2021/9, Czech National Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2021/9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cnb.cz/export/sites/cnb/en/economic-research/.galleries/research_publications/cnb_wp/cnbwp_2021_09.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guan-Chun Liu & Chien-Chiang Lee & Lei He, 2016. "The Synergistic Effects Between Insurance and Credit Markets on Economic Growth: Evidence from China," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Emms, Paul, 2007. "Pricing general insurance with constraints," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 335-355, March.
    3. Donghui Li & Fariborz Moshirian & Pascal Nguyen & Timothy Wee, 2007. "The Demand for Life Insurance in OECD Countries," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 74(3), pages 637-652, September.
    4. Bourke, Philip, 1989. "Concentration and other determinants of bank profitability in Europe, North America and Australia," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 65-79, March.
    5. Athanasoglou, Panayiotis P. & Brissimis, Sophocles N. & Delis, Matthaios D., 2008. "Bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank profitability," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 121-136, April.
    6. Feyen, Erik & Lester, Rodney & Rocha, Roberto, 2011. "What drives the development of the insurance sector ? an empirical analysis based on a panel of developed and developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5572, The World Bank.
    7. Rudra P. Pradhan & Saurav Dash & Rana Pratap Maradana & Manju Jayakumar & Kunal Gaurav, 2017. "Insurance market density and economic growth in Eurozone countries: the granger causality approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 1-24, December.
    8. Franklin R. Edwards & Arnold A. Heggestad, 1973. "Uncertainty, Market Structure, and Performance: The Galbraith-Caves Hypothesis and Managerial Motives in Banking," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 455-473.
    9. Marco Arena, 2008. "Does Insurance Market Activity Promote Economic Growth? A Cross‐Country Study for Industrialized and Developing Countries," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 921-946, December.
    10. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    11. Thorsten Beck & Ian Webb, 2003. "Economic, Demographic, and Institutional Determinants of Life Insurance Consumption across Countries," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(1), pages 51-88, June.
    12. Epermanis, Karen & Harrington, Scott E., 2006. "Market Discipline in Property/Casualty Insurance: Evidence from Premium Growth Surrounding Changes in Financial Strength Ratings," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(6), pages 1515-1544, September.
    13. Edwards, Franklin R, 1977. "Managerial Objectives in Regulated Industries: Expense-Preference Behavior in Banking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 147-162, February.
    14. Doherty, Neil A & Garven, James R, 1995. "Insurance Cycles: Interest Rates and the Capacity Constraint Model," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 383-404, July.
    15. Gilbert, R Alton, 1984. "Bank Market Structure and Competition: A Survey," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 16(4), pages 617-644, November.
    16. Heggestad, Arnold A & Mingo, John J, 1976. "Prices, Nonprices, and Concentration in Commercial Banking," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 8(1), pages 107-117, February.
    17. Byeongyong Paul Choi & Mary A. Weiss, 2005. "An Empirical Investigation of Market Structure, Efficiency, and Performance in Property‐Liability Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 635-673, December.
    18. Raja Bouzluita & Arthur J. Young, 1998. "A Probit Analysis of Best Ratings," Journal of Insurance Issues, Western Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 21(1), pages 23-34.
    19. Berger, Lawrence A & Cummins, J David & Tennyson, Sharon, 1992. "Reinsurance and the Liability Insurance Crisis," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 253-272, July.
    20. Martin Eling & David Antonius Pankoke, 2016. "Systemic Risk in the Insurance Sector: A Review and Directions for Future Research," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 19(2), pages 249-284, September.
    21. William Greene & Dan Segal, 2004. "Profitability and Efficiency in the U.S. Life Insurance Industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 229-247, May.
    22. Beenstock, Michael & Dickinson, Gerry & Khajuria, Sajay, 1986. "The determination of life premiums: An international cross-section analysis 1970-1981," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 261-270, October.
    23. Cristina Dorofti & Petr Jakubik, 2015. "Insurance Sector Profitability and the Macroeconomic Environment," EIOPA Financial Stability Report - Thematic Articles 4, EIOPA, Risks and Financial Stability Department.
    24. Nuraini Yuanita, 2019. "Competition and bank profitability," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-15, December.
    25. Muhammed Altuntas & Jannes Rauch, 2017. "Concentration and financial stability in the property-liability insurance sector: global evidence," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(3), pages 284-302, May.
    26. Ad Van Riet, 2017. "The ECB’s Fight against Low Inflation: On the Effects of Ultra-Low Interest Rates," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-27, April.
    27. Park, Kang H. & Weber, William L., 2006. "Profitability of Korean banks: Test of market structure versus efficient structure," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 222-239.
    28. Heggestad, Arnold A, 1977. "Market Structure, Risk and Profitability in Commercial Banking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1207-1216, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Doris Neu Berger, 1998. "Industrial Organization of Banking: A Review," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 97-118.
    2. Flores, Eduardo & de Carvalho, João Vinicius França & Sampaio, Joelson Oliveira, 2021. "Impact of interest rates on the life insurance market development: Cross-country evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    3. Elena Nebolsina, 2020. "The Impact of Demographic Burden on Insurance Density," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    4. Rudra P. Pradhan, Mak B. Arvin, John H. Hall and Neville R. Norman, 2017. "Insurance Market Development and Macroeconomic Interactions in Twenty-Six Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 23-57, December.
    5. Akhter, Waheed & Pappas, Vasileios & Khan, Saad Ullah, 2017. "A comparison of Islamic and conventional insurance demand: Worldwide evidence during the Global Financial Crisis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1401-1412.
    6. Neuberger, Doris, 1997. "Structure, Conduct and Performance in Banking Markets," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 12, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    7. Milijana Novovic Buric & Ljiljana Kascelan & Vladimir Kascelan, 2023. "Economic and demographic determinants of premium reserve in Western Balkan countries during and after the crisis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 1116-1136, January.
    8. J. François Outreville, 2013. "The Relationship Between Insurance and Economic Development: 85 Empirical Papers for a Review of the Literature," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 16(1), pages 71-122, March.
    9. Fazelina Sahul Hamid, 2017. "The Effect of Market Structure on Banks’ Profitability and Stability: Evidence from ASEAN-5 Countries," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 578-598, October.
    10. Rangan Gupta & Amine Lahiani & Chi-Chuan Lee & Chien-Chiang Lee, 2019. "Asymmetric dynamics of insurance premium: the impacts of output and economic policy uncertainty," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 1959-1978, December.
    11. Samuel Guérineau & Relwende Sawadogo, 2015. "On the determinants of life insurance development in Sub-Saharan Africa: the role of the institutions quality in the effect of economic development," CERDI Working papers halshs-01178838, HAL.
    12. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chang, Chi-Hung, 2015. "Financial policy and insurance development: Do financial reforms matter and how?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 258-278.
    13. Killins, Robert N., 2020. "Firm-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic factors of life insurers’ profitability: Evidence from Canada," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. J. François Outreville, 2011. "The relationship between insurance growth and economic development - 80 empirical papers for a review of the literature," ICER Working Papers 12-2011, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    15. Alhassan, Abdul Latif & Biekpe, Nicholas, 2016. "Determinants of life insurance consumption in Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 17-27.
    16. Rudra P. Pradhan & Saurav Dash & Rana Pratap Maradana & Manju Jayakumar & Kunal Gaurav, 2017. "Insurance market density and economic growth in Eurozone countries: the granger causality approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 1-24, December.
    17. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin & Chang, Chi-Hung, 2013. "Insurance demand and country risks: A nonlinear panel data analysis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 68-85.
    18. Panayiotis P. Athanasoglou & Matthaios D. Delis & Christos K. Staikouras, 2006. "Determinants of Bank Profitability in the South Eastern European Region," Working Papers 47, Bank of Greece.
    19. Olufemi Adewale Aluko & Funso Tajudeen Kolapo & Patrick Olufemi Adeyeye & Patrick Olajide Oladele, 2019. "Impact of Financial Risks on the Profitability of Systematically Important Banks in Nigeria," Paradigm, , vol. 23(2), pages 117-129, December.
    20. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Norman, Neville R., 2015. "Insurance development and the finance-growth nexus: Evidence from 34 OECD countries," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-22.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Concentration; insurance sector; loss ratio; low interest rates; underwriting profitability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2021/9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jan Babecky (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cnbgvcz.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.