Editing Insurance (section)

===Modern methods===
Insurance became far more sophisticated in [[Enlightenment era|Enlightenment-era]] [[Europe]], where specialized varieties developed.

[[File:Lloyd's coffee house drawing.jpg|right|thumb|[[Lloyd's Coffee House]] was the first organized market for marine insurance.]]

[[Property insurance]] as we know it today can be traced to the [[Great Fire of London]], which in 1666 devoured more than 13,000 houses. The devastating effects of the fire converted the development of insurance "from a matter of convenience into one of urgency, a change of opinion reflected in Sir [[Christopher Wren]]'s inclusion of a site for "the Insurance Office" in his new plan for London in 1667."<ref>Dickson (1960): 4</ref> A number of attempted fire insurance schemes came to nothing, but in 1681, [[Economics|economist]] [[Nicholas Barbon]] and eleven associates established the first fire insurance company, the "Insurance Office for Houses", at the back of the Royal Exchange to insure brick and frame homes. Initially, 5,000 homes were insured by his Insurance Office.<ref>Dickson (1960): 7</ref>

At the same time, the first insurance schemes for the [[underwriting]] of [[business venture]]s became available. By the end of the seventeenth century, London's growth as a centre for trade was increasing due to the demand for [[marine insurance]]. In the late 1680s, Edward Lloyd opened [[Lloyd's Coffee House|a coffee house]], which became the meeting place for parties in the shipping industry wishing to insure cargoes and ships, including those willing to underwrite such ventures. These informal beginnings led to the establishment of the insurance market [[Lloyd's of London]] and several related shipping and insurance businesses.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://press.oxforddnb.com/index/16/101016829 |title=Lloyd, Edward (''c''.1648–1713) |first=Sarah |last=Palmer |date=October 2007 |volume=1 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/16829 |access-date=16 February 2011 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715030319/http://press.oxforddnb.com/index/16/101016829/ |archive-date=15 July 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:National-insurance-act-1911.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Leaflet promoting the [[National Insurance Act 1911]]]]

[[Life insurance]] policies were taken out in the early 18th century. The first company to offer life insurance was the [[Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office]], founded in London in 1706 by [[William Talbot (bishop)|William Talbot]] and [[Allen baronets|Sir Thomas Allen]].<ref Name="Anzovin121">Anzovin, Steven, ''Famous First Facts'' 2000, item # 2422, H. W. Wilson Company, {{ISBN|0-8242-0958-3}} p. 121 ''The first life insurance company known of record was founded in 1706 by the Bishop of Oxford and the financier Thomas Allen in London, England. The company, called the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, collected annual premiums from policyholders and paid the nominees of deceased members from a common fund.''</ref><ref>Amicable Society, ''The charters, acts of Parliament, and by-laws of the corporation of the Amicable Society for a perpetual assurance office'', Gilbert and Rivington, 1854, p. 4</ref> Upon the same principle, [[Edward Rowe Mores]] established the [[The Equitable Life Assurance Society|Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorship]] in 1762.

It was the world's first [[mutual insurer]] and it pioneered age based premiums based on [[mortality rate]] laying "the framework for scientific insurance practice and development" and "the basis of modern life assurance upon which all life assurance schemes were subsequently based."<ref name=eq>{{Cite web|url=http://www.equitable.co.uk/about-us/history-and-facts/|title=Today and History:The History of Equitable Life|date=26 June 2009|access-date=16 August 2009}}</ref>

In the late 19th century "accident insurance" began to become available.<ref>{{cite web|title=Encarta: Health Insurance |url=http://ca.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576408_8/Health_Insurance.html#s49 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090717201207/http://ca.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576408_8/Health_Insurance.html |archive-date=17 July 2009 |url-status = dead}}</ref> The first company to offer accident insurance was the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, formed in 1848 in England to insure against the rising number of fatalities on the nascent [[railway]] system. 

The first international insurance rule was the [[General_average#York Antwerp Rules|York Antwerp Rules]] (YAR) for the distribution of costs between ship and cargo in the event of general average. In 1873 the "Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations", the forerunner of the [[International Law Association]] (ILA), was founded in Brussels. It published the first YAR in 1890, before switching to the present title of the "International Law Association" in 1895.<ref>{{Citation|author= F. L. Wiswall|url= https://comitemaritime.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/a-brief-history-wiswall.pdf| title=A Brief History |publisher= [[International Maritime Organization|Comite Maritime International]]|series= |date=2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190814090124/https://comitemaritime.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/a-brief-history-wiswall.pdf|archive-date= 14 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author= Dr. Ruth Frendo|url= http://www.ila-hq.org/images/ILA/docs/international_law_association_article_-_dr_ruth_frendo.pdf | title=Archivist and Records Manager at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies |publisher= ILA|series= |date=}}</ref>

By the late 19th century governments began to initiate national insurance programs against sickness and old age. [[History of Germany|Germany]] built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as in the 1840s. In the 1880s Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] introduced old age pensions, accident insurance and medical care that formed the basis for Germany's [[welfare state]].<ref name="EPH">E. P. Hennock, ''The Origin of the Welfare State in England and Germany, 1850–1914: Social Policies Compared'' (2007)</ref><ref>Hermann Beck, ''Origins of the Authoritarian Welfare State in Prussia, 1815-1870'' (1995)</ref> In Britain more extensive legislation was introduced by the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] government in the [[National Insurance Act 1911]]. This gave the British working classes the first contributory system of insurance against illness and unemployment.<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/national-health-insurance.htm The Cabinet Papers 1915-1982: National Health Insurance Act 1911.] The National Archives, 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.</ref> This system was greatly expanded after the [[Second World War]] under the influence of the [[Beveridge Report]], to form the first modern [[welfare state]].<ref name="EPH"/><ref>Bentley B. Gilbert, ''British social policy, 1914-1939'' (1970)</ref>

In 2008, the International Network of Insurance Associations (INIA), then an informal network, became active and it has been succeeded by the [[Global Federation of Insurance Associations]] (GFIA), which was formally founded in 2012 to aim to increase insurance industry effectiveness in providing input to international regulatory bodies and to contribute more effectively to the international dialogue on issues of common interest. It consists of its 40 member associations and 1 observer association in 67 countries, which companies account for around 89% of total insurance premiums worldwide.<ref>[https://www.gfiainsurance.org/about-us "About us"], the Global Federation of Insurance Associations.</ref>