I assess how Basel III, Solvency II and the low interest rate environment will affect the financial connection between the bank and insurance sector by changing the funding patterns of banks as well as the investment strategies of life insurance companies. Especially for life insurance...

I examine competition in the sector of mortgage life insurance, in particular the periodic switching right (PSR), by which the borrower can change his insurer once every period (say, every year). The PSR is likely to have pro competitive effects (lower premium), but by the same move, to lead to...

This article deals with the impact of the global financial crisis on the scale and structure of investment portfolios of insurance companies, with respect to their difference compared to other types of financial institution, which derives from the specific nature of insurance activities. The...

During the financial crisis, life insurers sold long-term policies at deep discounts relative to actuarial value. The average markup was as low as −19 percent for annuities and −57 percent for life insurance. This extraordinary pricing behavior was due to financial and product market...

In this essay written in honor of the retirement of Eddy Wymeersch, Professor Howell Jackson explores the manner in which European nations have moved towards more consolidated systems of financial regulation and discusses the implications of the European experience for the United States. While...

The Home Owners' Loan Corporation purchased more than a million delinquent mortgages from private lenders between 1933 and 1936 and refinanced the loans for the borrowers. Its primary goal was to break the cycle of foreclosure, forced property sales and decreases in home values that was...

This paper measures credit risk in prime money market funds (MMFs), studies how such credit risk evolved in 2011-2012, and tests the efficacy of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) January 2010 reforms. To accomplish this, we estimate the credit default swap premium (CDS) needed to...

The article addresses international regulation in the field of officially supported export credits. The author emphasizes differences between respective bank and insurance markets as well as differences between functioning of the respective commercial and state supported institutions. Analysis...

This assessment of Financial Sector Supervision and Regulation for Samoa provides an overview of legal and institutional frameworks. Compliance with the Basel Core Principles (BCPs) for the supervision of international and domestic banks has improved considerably. Supervision of domestic banks...