This document provides a history of the insurance industry from ancient times to the present. It discusses early forms of insurance practiced by Chinese, Babylonian, Greek, and Roman traders, as well as friendly societies in 17th century England. It then outlines the development of insurance in the medieval period, and the establishment of Lloyd's of London as an insurance marketplace in the 17th century. The document proceeds to discuss the origins and growth of the insurance industry in major countries and regions including the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union/Russia, Japan, India, and its current worldwide operations.

1. P R E S E N T E D B Y :
A M A R K U M A R N E P A L
A G E N C Y M A N A G E R , C O D E : 2 0 5 0 0 5 4 7
U N I O N L I F E I N S U R A N C E L T D , G E E T A N A G A R ,
C H I T W A N
A D M I S S I O N O F F I C E R , M A T E S I N T E R N A T I O N A L
E D U C A T I O N A N D V I S A S E R V I C E S
M . B . A S T U D E N T
P R E S I D E N C Y C O L L E G E O F M A N A G E M E N T
S C I E N C E S
B H A R A T P U R , C H I T W A N , N E P A L
Lets Talk Insurance

2. Lets Talk Insurance
Ancient Era:
 2nd and 3rd Millenina BC/
Century
 Chinese and Babylonian Traders
 Maritime Loans
 Greek and Romans Benevolent
Societies
 Friendly Societies and late 17th
Century
Medieval and Modern Era:
 Medieval Period ( late 400
A.D -1453 A.D) 4rth –late
14th Century )
 Sea Loans/Foenus Nauticum,
traditional Marine Insurance
 Lloyd’s Coffeehouse Marketplace
in London
 First Printed Book on Insurance :
“On Insurance and Merchants’
Bets by Pedro de Santarem in
1488

3. Lets Talk Insurance
Modern Insurance
 Early 15th Century- 21st Century
 Insurance Industry Origin in
-Soviet Union –Russia
-The United Kingdom
-Europe ( Lloyd’s of London)
-The United States
-Japan
-India
-Worldwide Operation

4. Origin and History
Ancient Era
 Chinese and Babylonian Traders in the 3rd and 2nd Millenium
BC respectively. ( Marine History)
 England : late 17th Mid 18th Century, “Friendly Societies
“,existed in England donating money for emergency.
 Ancient Athenian “Maritime Loan” advanced money for
voyages with repayment being cancelled if the ship was lost.
 Greek and Romans in 6oo B.C created “Benevolent Societies”,
which cared for families of deceased members as well as
paying funeral expenses.
 Indian Scriptures : Written by Manu (Manu smiriti),
Yagnavalkya (Dharma Shastra), Kaultilya ( Arthashastra)

5. Ancient Era
Bottomry Contracts: -
Babylonian Merchants( “Code of
Hamurabbi)
 Loans granted to merchants
 The interest on the loans
covered the insurance risk.
 Loan did not have to be
repaid if the shipment was
lost/stolen at sea.
Chinese Merchants:
 Redistribution of goods
among various vessels to limit
the loss.

6. Ancient Era
Hindu Scriptures:
Manusmiriti, Dharmashastra, Arthashastra:
 Pooling resources that could be re-distributed in
times of calamities such as Fire, Floods,epidemic and
famine.
(root of modern insurance)

7. Origin and History
Medieval Era
 Sea loans or pre-Marine Insurance : investors lend
money/sea loans to travelling merchant , and merchant
would be liable to pay it back if the ship returned safely.

8. Origin and History
 Medieval Era:
 13th and 14th Century , “Chamber of Assurance” was
established in the city of Bruges.
Sea Traders Agents
Agreement
Agents on behalf of Sea traders carried and sold the goods

9. Origin and History
 Medieval Era:
•To mitigate the risk , the agents /traders used different vessels to avoid
loss, theft, damage of shipment.( same as Chinese merchants).
Fun fact: 
1st Marine Insurance Contract was taken place in Italy on October , 1947.

10. Post Medieval Era-Pre Modern Era
The United Kingdom:
 The Great Fire of London in 1666 A.D .
 Advent of Bubble era in England in 1711 A.D
London Assurance Corporation, Royal Assurance
Corporation
 Beginning of Property and Liability Insurance
.

11. Post Medieval Era-Pre Modern Era
 The United Kingdom
 Famous “Lloyd’s of London”: 17th Century , coffeehouse where
merchants, bankers, insurance underwriters used to have coffee and
discuss. Lloyd supplied customers with shipping information gathered
from docs and sources.
 Currently in existence as Lloyd’s List.

12. The United States
 Benjamin Franklin organized the 1st American
Insurance Agency in 1752 A.D
 “Philadelphina Contributionship “ was the 1st
life insurance Company founded by
Presbyterian Minister’s Dund in 1759 A.D
 Till the 18th Century, 17 life insurance Co in
state of New York Alone

13. The United States
 “Great Chicago Fire” in 1871 A.D, “San Francisco Earthquake
and Fire” in 1906 led to dropping out many insurance
companies due to loss.
 “U.S Civil War” (1870-1877 A.D) , 33 life insurance and 48 other
insurance Co. collapsed . Altogether 81

14. The United States
 19th Century showed steady growth. 3800 propety
liability insurance and 2,270 life insurance Co were
in existence providing 2 mill(20 lakhs) people in
employment.
 Current statistics shows 37% of worldwide insurance
premium collection by U.S alone
 Data per 2018, total of 5,965 insurance companies
are in U.S ( https://www.iii.org/fact
 Fun Fact: MetLife Inc is a U.S based Insurance Co.
having its operation in Nepal.

15. Soviet Union/ Russia
 19th Century: “Russian Revolution in 1917 A.D. marks its first begnning
of Insurance Industry
 “Gosstrakh” first domestic insurance Co in Soviet Union, accompanied
by “Ingosstrakh” insurance Co. insuring foreign risks. Still in Practice
 Upon Free Economy( 1985 A.D) and breakup of Soviet Union in 1991,
230 new private insurers were established.

16. Japan
 Rapid industrialization after World War-II saw an
impresive growth in insurance business.
 Private enterprises insured crop, livestock, forest
fire, fishery, export credit, accidental and health, as
well as social security.
 Rates controlled by voluntary rating bureaus under
Japanese law demanding “responsible and non
discriminatory policy”
 Ranked no 1 in world wide Premium Collection
(25%) in late 20th Century.

17. India
 Deep rootes in Manusmiriti, Dharmashastra and Arthashastra by Manu,
Yagnavalkya and Kautilya.
 18th Century: 1st life insurance Co. “Oriental Life Insurance Co.”
established in Calcutta but eventually failed in 1834 A.d
 1829 A.D, “Madras Equitable” began transacting life insurance
business in Madras Presidency.

18. India
 1870 A.D-enactment of British Insurance Act
,brought into establishment of Bombay Mutual
(1871),Oriental (1874), Empire of India (1897) in
Bombay Presidency
 Foreign Insurance Offices, Albert Life Insurance,
Royal Insurance, Liverpool Insurance and London
Globe Insurance did good business.

19. India
 Indian Life Assurance Act-1912 , 1st statutory
measure to regulate life business came into
existence.
 1928-both life and non life business statistical
data was collected by Indian and Foreign
insurers including provident insurance policies.
 19th Jan, 1956 ordinance was nationalised
regarding Life insurance sector and Life
Insurance Corporation (L.I.C) was formed.

20. India
 LIC absorbed 154 Indian,16 non Indian insurers,;75
Provident fund societies; altogether 245 insureres .
 LIC had monopoly in insurance sector until late 1990’s
 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
I.R.D.A was contitutionalised to develop and regulate the
industry

21. India
Current Scenario :
 31 general Insurance Corporation and 24 Life insurance Corporation are operating in
the country.
 Insurance adds upto 7 % of India’s Total GDP.
 To name a few leading insurance companies in India:
 LIC India Life Insurance
 New India Assurance
 National Insurance
 Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
 United India Insurance
 Oriental Insurance
 ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
 HDFC Life Insurance
 Max Life Insurance
 SBI Life Insurance
 Birla Sun Life Insurance
 Apollo Munich Insurance

22. Worldwide Operation
 Expansion in World Trade and Foreign Direct Investment (F.D.I) has
helped Insurance and Social Security Industry in rapid scale
 Majority of World’s Insurance business are concentrated in Europe and
North America.
 As per data of 1990,
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
Series 1
Series 1
Source: https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-industry-overview

23. References
• Humbert O. Nelli
 The Journal of Risk and Insurance
 Vol. 39, No. 2 (Jun., 1972), pp. 215-220:
 Sea/Marine Insurance ; Mutuum Loans;;Commenda Contract; Bill of Exchange.
 https://www.irdai.gov.in/
 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-36774166
 https://www.licindia.in/
 https://nirma.com.np/
 https://www.policybazaar.com/insurance-companies/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_insurance_companies
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/insurance/Historical-development-of-insurance
https://www.irdai.gov.in/ADMINCMS/cms/NormalData_Layout.aspx?page=PageNo4&mid=2
https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-industry-overview
 https://www.lloydsbank.com/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd%27s_of_London