Structural Adjustment and Change in the Australian Life Insurance Industry Post Demutualisation

In the last decade the ownership structure of Australia's life insurance industry has undergone a fundamental change. Traditionally, the sector had been dominated by a group of large mutual associations which had historically been the market leaders. In the space of less than a decade, this form of ownership has disappeared as the industry responded to the market adjustment brought about by deregulation of the financial sector. An information cost framework is used in this paper to analyse the consequences of deregulation and its implications for the life insurance industry in Australia.