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
Pension plan format. After deciding how much to contribute, the employer can suspend, reduce, or discontinue contributions during the first 10 years only for reasons of business necessity; ...
Vehicle for the deferring of unneeded current income for a later date, such as retirement, providing the following benefits: There is no tax on earnings of the plan until distributed; ...
Transit over land. ...
Coverage on an all risks basis for loss due to theft or mysterious disappearance of personal property; damage to premises and property within resulting from theft; and vandalism and ...
List and description of valuables, to be utilized in the event an insurance claim must be filed. Included should be: a detailed explanation of possessions that are of special value, such as ...
Plan under which an employee authorizes his or her employer to deduct from each paycheck premiums due on an insurance plan. ...
Annuity contract. If the annuitant dies before receiving income at least equal to the premiums paid, a beneficiary receives the difference in installments. If the annuitant lives after the ...
interconnection of computers that contain pages classified into groups called web sites that can be accessed over the internet. The only requirement for visiting a web site is to have ...
Method of calculating the primary insurance amount (PIA) for Social Security benefits. Employees' covered monthly earnings are adjusted to reflect changes in the national average annual ...

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