A vote for "Brexit" could cost U.K. insurers direct access to a single insurance market of 500 million people. Complicated negotiations would follow a vote to leave, with insurers to face uncertainties over the Solvency II regulatory regime and access to markets outside Europe, among many others.
The U.K. insurance market recorded €257.2 billion in gross written premiums in 2014, the highest in Europe, and it is also a particularly active exporter. According to the Association of British Insurers, which is in favor of staying in the EU, the U.K. sells £21 billion more in insurance and long-term savings products to other EU nations than they sell to the U.K.