Regulatory Issues

This chapter outlines the regulatory environment that has evolved with the growth of bancassurance and also considers recent issues concerning the regulation of financial conglomerates. The first part of the chapter examines trends in the regulation of the financial services industry in recent years and then goes on to review the regulations pertaining to bancassurance in various European and non-European countries. The remainder of the chapter examines the scrutiny under which bancassurance has been placed in recent years and the issues relating to the supervision of financial conglomerates. We outline the main features of the new types of regulations that are likely to be introduced to handle the increased mingling of banking and insurance businesses.