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The evolution of insurance and the era of the insurance bubble

 The evolution of insurance and the era of the insurance bubble

The insurance business has evolved in accordance with the development and complexity of life, the development of foreign trade and the high risks that had to be insured.
When we speak of insurance in a very simple way, we refer to an insurance that expresses the things that are taken to eliminate or mitigate risks.
But if we want to talk about it more broadly, we can quote the definition from investopedia. When the insurance contract was defined as:
"A contract that establishes a clear policy between two parties, through which (the beneficiary), be it a natural or legal person, receives financial protection or compensation for specific losses from the insurance company."

The birth of insurance in prenatal times:

The beginnings of insurance somehow go back to pre-Christian times, when commerce and people's lives developed and their properties multiplied.
And their systems evolved from the barter system to the monetary system, and from the life of staying in one area, to moving to other areas.
The beginnings of insurance and risk coverage refer to the Chinese and Babylonian merchants of the third and second millennium BC.
Where Chinese merchants distributed their merchandise to many ships in order to avoid loss by placing the merchandise in a single ship that could be exposed to sinking and lose everything, and this is known as loss sharing or expected loss coverage in our weather.
As for the Babylonians, they established a system that was recorded in the famous Hammurabi canon, specifically in 1750 BC. C.
Where the documents indicate that the merchant who will obtain a specific loan to finance your shipment, will pay this lender an additional amount in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan in case of theft or loss of the shipment at sea.
And what the Babylonians did is indirectly reminiscent of anti-theft insurance.

The British and their role in the development of the insurance industry and the age of the insurance bubble:

Looking at the modern era, English sailors played a role in the need for insurance due to their increased maritime trade and increased risks.
The English have an important role in the development of the insurance business and the emergence of other types of insurance that continues to this day.
Lloyd's of London, an international insurance market created in the 17th century as a café frequented by merchants, bankers and insurers, gradually became known as the most likely place to find marine insurers.
In 1666, the Great Fire broke out in London, announcing the birth of fire insurance.
The year 1711 can be seen as the birth of professional insurers in England, which is known as the age of the insurance bubble.

And when we talk about the insurance bubble, we point out that those who founded these companies were seeking to get rich quick using false promises, which are the first signs of mistrust between people and insurance companies.
As for the two companies to which the modern insurance industry owes what it is today, they are:
  • London Assurance Corporation
  • and the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation


America and its role in the development of the insurance industry:

In America, the first American insurance company was established in 1752 by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia.
He bought life insurance in the American colonies, but other American insurance companies did not survive.
The failure of American insurance companies is due to mismanagement, lack of understanding of insurance and the absence of its fundamentals, bad investment, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, for what more than forty American companies went bankrupt over time.
However, the 20th century brought with it important issues such as the organization of the insurance business, the establishment of clearer foundations and the emergence of some expertise.
In 1987, the number of insurance companies in the United States reached almost five thousand, with two million workers working for them.

Insurance development in the Arab world:

As for contemporary insurance in its current form in the Arab world, its earliest seeds date back to the second half of the 19th century.
As foreign insurance agencies were established to serve foreign communities in Arab countries, but the presence of Arab insurance companies returns to Egypt.
Where the first insurance company was established in Egypt, which was the Egyptian National Insurance Company in 1900 AD, and then successively began the establishment of national companies in the Arab countries, including:
  • The Tunisian Insurance Cooperative in 1912
  • The Arab Insurance Company Ltd. in Lebanon in 1944
  • The Royal Moroccan Insurance Company in Morocco in 1949
  • The National Insurance Company of Iraq in 1950
  • The Jordan Insurance Shareholding Company Ltd. in Jordan in 1951

For now, the insurance industry faces the conditions of the Crown in a way that worries its creators, so will we witness a new era that lashes out against this industry, new updates, different types and more modern policies?
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