The "Dematerialized" Insurance: Distance Selling and Cyber Risks from an International Perspective

This book adopts an international perspective to examine how the online sale of insurance challenges the insurance regulation and the insurance contract, with a focus on insurance sales, consumer protection, cyber risks and privacy, as well as dispute resolution. Today insurers, policyholders, intermediaries and regulators interact in an increasingly online world with profound implications for what has up to now been a traditionally operating industry. While the growing threats to consumer and business data from cyber attacks constitute major sources of risk for insurers, at the same time cyber insurance has become the fastest growing commercial insurance product in many jurisdictions. Scholars and practitioners from Europe, the United States and Asia review these topics from the viewpoints of insurers, policyholders and insurance intermediaries. In some cases, existing insurance regulations appear readily adaptable to the online world, such as prohibitions on deceptive marketing of insurance products and unfair commercial practices, which can be applied to advertising through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as to traditional written material. In other areas, current regulatory and business practices are proving to be inadequate to the task and new ones are emerging. For example, the insurance industry and insurance supervisors are exploring how to review, utilize, profit from and regulate the explosive growth of data mining and predictive analytics (zbig datay), which threaten long-standing privacy protection and insurance risk classification laws. This book's ambitious international scope matches its topics. The online insurance market is cross-territorial and cross-jurisdictional with insurers often operating internationally and as part of larger financial-services holding companies. The authors' exploration of these issues from the vantage points of some of the world's largest insurance markets - the U.S., Europe and Japan - provides a comparative framework, which is necessary for the understanding of online insurance.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 European and International Online Distribution of Insurance Products....Pages 3-37 E-commerce and Distribution of Insurance Products: A Few Suggestions for an Appropriate Regulatory Infrastructure....Pages 39-58 The EU Regulation on Comparison Websites of Insurance Products....Pages 59-84 Insurance Companies and E-Marketing Activities: An Empirical Analysis in the Italian Market....Pages 85-113 Front Matter....Pages 115-115 Insurance Online: Regulation and Consumer Protection in a Cyber World....Pages 117-142 Online Sales of Insurance Products in the EU....Pages 143-167 Insurance Contracts Online and Consumer Protection Under the European and Greek Laws....Pages 169-182 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Cyber Insurance: Underwriting, Scope of Cover, Benefits and Concerns....Pages 185-200 The Cyber Insurance in Japan....Pages 201-223 Data Protection in the Insurance Sector Under EU Law....Pages 225-238 Requirements for Privacy and Protection of Consumer Information in the U.S.: Implications for the Insurance Industry ....Pages 239-263 Front Matter....Pages 265-265 Online Dispute Resolution and Insurance....Pages 267-298 Private International Law and On-Line Insurance Contracts....Pages 299-359 European Private Law (Regulation Rome I) and On-Line Insurance Contracts....Pages 361-391 Erratum to: The “Dematerialized” Insurance....Pages E1-E1 Back Matter....Pages 393-395