Impact of foreign capital on the insurance market development in the Visegrad Group countries

Insurance markets are developing under the influence of various factors, which are divided into economic, demographic, social and cultural. The share of foreign insurance companies is treated as one of the structural factors. Research on this subject does not confirm unambiguously the influence of foreign capital on the development of insurance markets. Analysis of dependencies between foreign capital and the development of the insurance market in the Visegrad Group countries are the prime objectives of the research presented in this paper. The following research hypothesis has been advanced: the share of foreign capital is a determinant of the development of insurance markets as measured by the growth in the written premium and measured by the growth in the insurance penetration rate. In search of an answer to the query and in order to verify the research hypothesis, a critical review of the literature is undertaken, contents of factors which influence the development of insurance markets are analysed, and econometric methods are applied. A panel model is constructed and results of the model estimation are analysed to verify the hypothesis. The study has corroborated the research hypothesis. 'Ihis study has covered insurers active in the Visegrad Group insurance markets in 1999-2016 using annual figures. Data of these insurance markets are derived from the OECD.