Catastrophic Insurance Futures And Options
Definition of "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
Marketing of insurance through independent agents; also called independent agency system. Independent agents usually represent several insurance companies and try to insure the risk ...
Search engine site that emphasizes the fields of environmental risk management, environmental engineering, environmental planning, physical and biological sciences, and various ...
Method of funding a pension plan under which a single premium payment is made to fund a single unit of benefit for one year of recognized service with the employer. For example, if the ...
In automobile insurance, coverage providing protection in the event of physical damage to the insured's own automobile (other than that covered under comprehensive insurance) resulting from ...
Liability reserve required to be maintained by the national association of insurance commissioners (naic) prior to 1992 for fluctuations in the values of investments in securities. Realized ...
Means of paying the cost of benefits of pension plan participants including retirement, death, and disability. ...
Law that stipulates the minimum reserve the life insurance company must maintain for its life insurance policies and annuity contracts. This law was first developed by the NAIC as a method ...
Insurance established under the federal Railroad Retirement Act for railroad employees, covering death, retirement, disability, and unemployment. Benefits are adjusted for cost of living ...
Two basic kinds of policies sold by health insurance companies: medigap insurance (medicare supplementary insurance); and medicare wraparound ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.