Corporate Governance and the So-Called “Four-Eyes Principle”, in The Governance of Insurance Undertakings between Corporate Law and Insurance Regulation

This chapter aims to analyse the current role played by insurance under- takings and their senior managers—with a specific reference to the Italian, French, Spanish and British insurance industry, taking into consideration the important changes introduced by the Solvency II framework. In doing so, the study identifies features of the international regulation of insur- ance development based on the recommendations of the International Association of Insurance Supervisory (IAIS) and the Directives of the European Union (EU). The board delegates the running of the business to the senior managers, expecting them to operate on behalf of the company’s interests. The literature has identified several problems resulting from this relationship. We intend to consider the internal behaviour affected by the board-senior man- agers’ relationship, by looking for direct connection between the elements of senior managers behaviours’ and the organisational and operational structure of the enterprise. Inside the theoretical framework and given the existing related literature, our work aims to answer the above research question. According to our statements, it will be demonstrated that, with specific focus on the management sector, there are still wide possibilities for improvement and more studies concerning board-senior managers relationship.