Distribution channels and growth strategies in Spanish insurance: from networks of agents to branch offices (1870–1940)

Abstract

This article analyses the factors that determined the choice of distribution channel within the Spanish insurance industry and its relation with growth strategies performed by firms. To achieve this goal, we have gone through documentary sources from the main companies to examine the relationships between companies and agents and their costs, namely: the design of agency contracts, the different procedures on the selection of agents, and the guidelines for inspection, supervision and control of agent networks. Using the framework of agency theory, this study aims to enhance our understanding of the conflicts and dynamics that determined the distribution of such a complex financial product as insurance in a late development economy. We show how insurance companies began the transition to the branch system in the 1920s to reduce the costs arising from the control and monitoring of agents and to mitigate agency conflicts.