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
Use of new rate structures by an insurance company without first obtaining approval of a State Insurance Department. ...
Approach used for sole proprietorships, partnerships, and close corporations in which the business interests of a deceased or disabled proprietor, partner, or shareholder are sold according ...
Company that buys life insurance policies from policyowners on the lives of insureds who are terminally ill. This type of company pays cash for the life insurance policies, usually in the ...
Type of organization of property and casualty insurance companies whose objective is to share information on fraudulent claims, handle claims in an expeditious manner, and disseminate ...
Insurance for accountants covering liability lawsuits arising from their professional activities. For example, an investor bases a buying decision on the balance sheet of a company's annual ...
The definition of special acceptance explains how two insurance institutions work together for the benefit of the masses. In order to define what special acceptance means, we must ...
new dividend option under which the policyowner allows the dividends from the participating policy to be applied for the purposes of accumulating cash values. ...
Arrangement under which the insured pays a fixed premium to the insurance company in exchange for the total transfer of the risk to that company. ...
Legal document setting out the rules to be followed by a trustee in administering assets of a trust. The trust agreement may limit investment of trust assets to specified types of ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.