Please note: there may be some adjustments to the teaching arrangements published in the course catalogue for 2020-21. Given current circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic it is anticipated that some usual arrangements for teaching on campus will be modified to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff on campus; further adjustments may also be necessary, or beneficial, during the course of the academic year as national requirements relating to management of the pandemic are revised.

Insurance and Financial Markets LAW5199

  • Academic Session: 2022-23
  • School: School of Law
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Available to Erasmus Students: No

Short Description

As an industry of global importance, insurance plays a central role in the stability of financial markets. The course is concerned with the nature and role of insurance and reinsurance companies as a growing class of financial market participants, and the ways in which insurance facilitates financial activity and its role in financial risk management. It examines the legal and regulatory frameworks of insurance business, including that of insurance intermediaries to understand the operation of the global insurance market. It also explores current and forward-looking financial stability issues with the objective of understanding the challenges that lie ahead for the re/insurance markets and more generally for the international financial community. This is essentially an insurance, financial risk, and (public and private law) regulation course. A co-requisite for this course is International Financial Regulation which covers the broader aspects of financial regulation, whereas this course examines how financial risk is regulated and managed in the global insurance market.

Timetable

10 x 2 hour seminars over semester two

Requirements of Entry

The course is open to all LLM students subject to the requirements of the LLM programme on which a student is enrolled. However, see point 8 regarding co-requisites.

Excluded Courses

None.

Co-requisites

International Financial Regulation

Assessment

The course is assessed by an essay of 1500 words (25%) and a 2 hour final examination (75%).

Main Assessment In: April/May

Course Aims

The aim of the course is to provide students with a detailed understanding of the insurance industry which is the second largest industry in the UK after banking, and to understand the strong links between the insurance, banking and finance sectors. It explains the nature of risk and and operation of the global insurance market as part of the international financial system. In doing so, it provides the context for regulation in the UK, EU, and globally and examines a variety of regulatory approaches and structures (e.g systemic risk, macro-prudential supervision, micro-prudential supervision, Solvency II, conduct of business regulation). It provides a critical assessment of the nature of regulation of the global insurance market and the extent to which it meaningfully addresses the different types of financial risk and anticipates new sources of risk in insurance arising from post-crisis reform (climate change, Brexit, Covid19).

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Understand the role and function of insurance in financial markets;

2. Explain the principal types of financial risk and the risk profile of insurance companies in financial risk management;

3. Understand the nature of the different regulatory approaches;

4. Understand and engage with the effectiveness of the legal and regulatory frameworks in the UK, EU, and globally;

5. Understand and engage with current trends and emerging issues on risk and insurance regulation, and proposals for reform.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.