A new revised prudential regulatory regime for insurers will be introduced in order to align the South African insurance industry with international standards. This regime, called Solvency Assessment and Management, is based on its European counterpart, which is known as Solvency II. This study starts off by investigating and comparing Solvency II, to be implemented in the United Kingdom, with Solvency Assessment and Management, to be implemented in South Africa, identifying a number of similarities between the regimes. The taxation of long-term insurers in both jurisdictions is then investigated, but no similarities are identified. The above prepares the ground for the main purpose of the study, which is to identify the impact of Solvency Assessment and Management on the taxation of long-term insurers in South Africa. This study identified the impact as effecting a change in the current basis used for the valuation of policyholder liabilities, which will cause a decrease in the value of liabilities, and consequently an increase in underwriting profit. The impact of this change is illustrated, and there are clear indications that there is a need to amend current income tax legislation or the directive used to determine the value of liabilities. Two options for amendments are identified but no changes to legislation are expected before 2015. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmchunu2014 / Taxation / unrestricted

本研究探討費率自由化政策與台灣產物保險市場經營效益，利用實證資料評估產物保險公司之整體經營績效及核保利潤。本研究自保險年鑑、台灣經濟新報資料庫及保險市場重要指標，選取1998年至2006年間財務及業務資訊來進行實證分析。 依Klein (1999)分類，台灣產物保險市場屬於類似獨占性競爭市場，產物保險公司高度競爭。依實證結果顯示，實施費率自由化政策，公司自留費用率持續緩慢增加，自留綜合成本率亦呈現上升趨勢。多數產物保險公司之實際核保利潤仍大於依Fairley (1979)計算之均衡核保利潤。 實證結果摘要如下： (1) 類似獨占性競爭市場：赫芬多指數皆小於0.1，市場呈現競爭狀態。1996年後，火險及車險之簽單保費成長率似乎每四、五年會呈現負成長。另外，1998-2003年費用率與公司規模呈現顯著負相關(p=0.01)。2004-2006年，此負相關並不顯著(p=0.1)，顯示大公司漸不具有成本優勢，即產險市場之進入障礙有減少之趨勢。 (2) 成本費用支出增加：除2001年外，1998至2006年之產物保險公司自留綜合成本率介於91.09% 和 93.49%。2006年之自留綜合成本率為93.49%。2006年之產物保險公司費用率上升至40.51% 且損失率下降至52.97%。 (3) 核保利潤呈現正值：依Fairley(1979)計算之2006年預期均衡核保利潤。20家產物保險公司，17家實際核保利潤大於預期均衡核保利潤。 / This paper provides an empirical study of rate deregulation plan and profit performance in Taiwan property-liability insurance market. The data used in this study are from Insurance Year Book, Taiwan Economic Journal Data Bank, and Important Indexes of Insurance Industry (Taiwan) during the period from 1998 to 2006. Based on the classification by Klein (1999), the market structure of Taiwan property-liability insurance industry is similar to monopolistic competitive market and the property-liability insurers are engaged in intense competition. The results of this study show that the expense ratios of insurers rise slightly from year to year and the combined ratios also follow a trend of increase. The actual underwriting profits of most property-liability insurers are larger than the expected numbers estimated by using the methodology in Fairley (1979). The empirical results are as follows: (1) The market structure is similar to monopolistic competitive market for that the Herfindahl indexes are all below 0.1. The growth ratios of written premium on fire insurance and automobile insurance seem to become negative every four or five years after 1996. Besides, the negative correlation between expense ratio and the scale of economics in insurance market from 1998 to 2003 was significant at the p = 0.01 level. However, this correlation from 2004 to 2006 was not significant at the p = 0.1 level. It seems that larger insurers do not have significant cost advantages over smaller insurers in the recent years, namely the entry barriers decline. (2) The expenses and costs keep increasing. Except 2001, the combined ratios ranged from 91.09% in 1998 to 93.49% in 2006. The expense ratio increased to 40.51% while the net loss ratio decreased to 52.97% in 2006. (3) The underwriting profits of most insurers are positive. The expected underwriting profits by using the methodology in Fairley (1979) is less than the actual ones in 2006. Among the 20 property-liability insurers, the actual underwriting profits of 17 insurers were larger than their expected underwriting profits.

本文旨在探討台灣產物保險業在併購活動後市場結構之變化與產物保險公司經營之績效。本研究以赫芬德指數(Herfindahl Index)來衡量市場集中度之變化，以核保利潤(Underwriting Profit)作為經營績效指標，並採用Mason(1939)、Bain(1956)與Scherer(1970)等人提出的結構行為績效假說(Structure-conduct-performance Hypothesis)以及Rhoades(1985)提出的相對市場力量假說(Relative Market Power Hypothesis)進行市場結構與經營績效間關聯性的分析，研究期間為2000年至2006年。結構行為績效假說提出廠商的獲利主要取決於市場結構，市場集中度與廠商獲利之間存在正向關係；另一方面，相對市場力量假說主張廠商獲利與市場集中度無關，與市場佔有率呈現正向關係。 研究發現：(1)產物保險市場集中度呈現上升趨勢，市場集中度從2000年的0.0800上升至2006年的0.0913，其中保證保險、火災保險、汽車保險、工程保險、責任保險與貨物運輸保險之集中度呈現上升趨勢，而傷害保險、其他財產保險、漁船保險、船體保險與航空保險之集中度呈現下降趨勢；(2)實證結果支持結構行為績效假說，市場集中度與產物保險公司核保利潤呈現顯著正向關係，其p值為0.004。產物保險業經歷併購活動後造成市場集中度上升，併購活動對於經營績效的改善應有正面助益。 / This thesis analyzes concentration effects of merger and acquisition measured by Herfindahl index in Taiwan property-liability insurance industry. The relationships between market structure and underwriting performance are also analyzed for the time period 2000 to 2006 by testing two hypotheses: structure-conduct-performance (SCP) hypothesis which developed by Mason (1939), Bain (1956), and Scherer (1970) and relative market power (RMP) hypothesis which proposed by Rhoades (1985). The SCP hypothesis proposed that concentration is positively related to performance while the RMP hypothesis asserts that market share is positively related to performance. Implications of study results are: (1) Concentration level experiences increase from 0.0800 in 2000 to 0.0913 in 2006. Bonding & credit, fire, automobile, engineering, liability and marine cargo insurances trends to increase in concentration over the time period, whereas accident, fishing vessel, others, marine hull and aviation insurances trends to decrease; (2) The SCP hypothesis is supported. Concentration level is positively related to underwriting performance with p-value of 0.004. Higher concentration level and positive concentration-performance relationship infer that merger and acquisition activities would have positive effects upon firm performance.