Abstract:

Being the largest insurance market of the world, the U.S. remains an attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) destination as well as continuously exports direct investment abroad. The purpose of this research is to study and discuss the mainstream in U.S. inbound and outbound flows of direct investment in insurance services in 1986-2017. The article surveys the solid economic fundamentals in the host countries which are determinants of increase in U.S. insurance capital outflow and looks into the reasons for attracting foreign capital to the local sector. Throughout the paper, the analysis pays particular attention to the forms and methods of penetrating foreign markets and reveals peculiarities of greenfield project and mergers and acquisitions. The article examines techniques applied by foreign insurance companies in the U.S. and changes in regional breakdown of most significant investor partner countries for the period covered. Strengthening of positions of developing countries and their rising economic activity result in enhancing their role as key peers. On the basis of the empirical results the study outlines that currently the prospects of insurance investment from and in the U.S. are shaped by geopolitical and economic factors as well as customer-focused environment.