Competition and Mergers

Abstract

Apart from government anti-inflationary measures in the 1970s restricting the size and timing of rate increases for motor insurance, the UK government, unlike those of some other countries, such as Germany, never sought to constrain competition that might undermine the security of insurers by regulating premium rates, policy cover or policy conditions for any class of insurance business. Instead the philosophy behind UK insurance regulation from the outset was ‘freedom with publicity’, that is, accounts and statements had to be published annually so that the public could judge for themselves the security of insurance companies, which were then free to conduct their business as they judged best.