The Regulation of the Swedish Insurance Industry

Abstract

Public intervention in insurance has a long tradition in Sweden. The most important risk-sharing found in medieval times was that of fire aid (Brandstuth). Authority rested with the rural district meeting (Häradsting). From 1733 onwards, several urban mutual organisations for fire insurance were established. The first stock company was Skandia, founded in 1855. It was soon followed by others, dealing both in life, and casualty insurance, as well as in fire insurance. In the 1870s the Government began inspecting the insurance companies. Public control of the financial solidity of insurance companies was settled by law in 1903. The Private Insurance Supervisory Board (Försäkringsinspektionen) was established a year later.²

Thanks are due to Carl Martin Roos and Charles Stuart, my co-workers in a research project on the regulation of the Swedish property and liability insurance industry (see Roos et al., 1980). The project was financed by the Swedish Council for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences. I am also grateful to Gösta Bergman and to Robert Goldsmith for their helpful advice.