Catastrophic Insurance Futures And Options
First exchange-traded risk management tool specifically developed for the insurance industry by the Chicago Board of Trade as a way for the primary insurance company to offset its underwriting exposures. See also futures tied to reinsurance. These contracts are designed to provide the insurance company with a hedge against underwriting losses resulting from catastrophic occurrences. The futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a commodity or financial instrument at a set price on a given date. The option permits the owner to decide whether or not to exercise the option to buy or sell the commodity or financial instrument by the stipulated exercise date. The insurance option trading is based on the loss ratio concept (losses incurred over a stipulated time period divided by premiums earned over the same time period). For example, assume an insurance company buys an option on the loss ratio that will fall within the range of 50% to 70%. Should losses fall within that range, the insurance company would then exercise the option and sell the contract, thereby enabling the company to make a profit on the option. This profit could then be used by the company to offset losses. Should the loss portion not fall within the 50% to 70% range, the option would expire at zero value.
Popular Insurance Terms
Nominal interest rate minus the rate of inflation. ...
Basic employee benefit under which an employer buys a master policy and issues certificates to employees denoting participation in the plan. Group life is also available through unions and ...
Section of a policy that specifies the dollar amount or percentage of any loss that the insurance does not pay. Most property and medical policies specify that the first portion of any loss ...
Same as term Unallocated Funding Instrument: pension funding agreement under which funds paid into a retirement plan are not currently allocated to purchase retirement benefits. The funds ...
Bonds that are secured by mortgage securities classified as either interest only or principal only strips (separate trading of registered interest and principal of securities). Insurance ...
Trust in which rights to make any changes therein are surrendered permanently by the grantor. The grantor uses this type of trust to transfer assets and any potential depreciation out of ...
Clause added to an insurance policy providing waiver of premium (WP) if the premium payer dies or becomes disabled. For example, this option is available on insurance policies on a child's ...
Same as term Civil damages Awarded: sums payable to the winning plaintiff by the losing defendant in a court of law; can take any or all of these forms: general, punitive, and special. ...
Same as term Bankers Blanket Bond: coverage for a bank in the event of loss due to dishonest acts of its employees or individuals external to the bank. For example, if a teller goes to ...

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