In recent decades, the insurance industry has become a major component of the financial services sector. From an activity somewhat subordinated to the evolutions registered on the real markets and adapted to their needs of limitation and absorption of operational and / or financial risks, the insurances have become, through the diversity of the offer, the complexity of the functional mechanisms, the sophistication of the contracting procedures. with other business areas, etc., one of the main development poles of the globalized financial economy.
The key function of insurance refers to the management of economic and social risks. A distinctive feature of modern socio-economic systems (individuals, companies, public institutions, economic and social sectors, localities, geographical areas, state and supranational formations, etc.) is the multiplication, diversification and amplification of the risks associated with their functioning. The proliferation of risks is the direct result of the increasing complexity of socio-economic systems, representing the expression of the increased vulnerability of these systems. The evolution of risks to higher levels of complexity has led to a reconsideration of risk management concepts and practices, especially the rethinking and redesign of financial mechanisms for their absorption.
The horizontal development (by launching new products and services) and the vertical one (by deepening the specialization and accentuating the fragmentation of the production chain of the economic value) developed in the insurance sector is a response to the increase of the variety of risks. In this order of ideas, the explosive diversification of the insurance companies' offer, by elaborating and launching on the market a huge number of products and services adapted to the most varied needs of the clients in terms of assumption and protection against risks, is presented as a structural change. and strategy that places insurance among the most innovative and dynamic business areas.
Continuing to assume the function of taking over, dissipating and managing risks, modern insurances have evolved towards extremely complex forms, which also integrate investment solutions and / or saving possibilities. In this way, many of the products and services offered by insurance companies involve not only options for safeguarding risks, but also a very wide range of tools for multiplying and profitable capitalization. Insurance companies have consequently become important centers of financial intermediation.
The present paper aims to present a description of the insurance / reinsurance products and services starting from the conceptual premises mentioned above. The paper is intended for all those interested in knowing the complexity of the offers made by modern insurance companies.
Assoc. Dr. Roxana Arabela Dumitrascu