Regulation changes and their impact on business models in the insurance industry

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 68.50%, University of Pretoria (GIBS), course: MBA, language: English, abstract: This study will determine how regulation changes have affected business models in the insurance industry, how customers are treated fairly within the insurance industry, and how operational efficiency is achieved despite regulation changes within the insurance industry.

The South African short-term insurance industry has been inundated with many competitors attempting to obtain a space for which there is limited market share. Faced with an increase of invasive legislature, the entire industry is devoting a substantial amount of time in advancing this new regulatory regime. Amidst the competitive onslaught and regulatory arbitrage, the underwriting management agencies (UMA¿s) are continuously looking for new ways to grow their businesses against the backdrop of a limited distribution channel and an expensive business model.

The study was conducted through the use of a survey distributed to UMAs within local insurance companies. The survey contained quantitative questions answerable through a Likert scale. The questions revolved around the effect of regulations on operational efficiency, the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) initiative, and business model changes in order to accommodate regulatory changes.