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
Plan to control employer's health care cost through the introduction of practice guidelines or protocols for health care providers, and to improve the methods used by employers and ...
Termination date of coverage as indicated on the insurance policy. ...
Coverage for small groups that cannot meet the underwriting standards of true group insurance. Even though the franchise insurance covers an entire group, individual policies are written on ...
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 ...
Independent agent membership group, originally mutual agents but today open to both mutual and stock agents. Association views are presented both nationally and locally on insurance ...
Payments in a defined benefit plan. Benefits are allocated to the pension plan participants as premiums are received by the insurance company. Since the benefits purchased are paid up, the ...
Trust in which the trustee distributes capital and income to the beneficiaries of the trust according to their economic needs. ...
Addition to a life insurance policy stating that when an insured becomes disabled for at least six months, premiums due are waived. Depending on the rider, the insured may begin to receive ...
Table used, among other purposes, to determine monthly Social Security benefit for a retired or disabled worker and his or her dependents. The average monthly wage (AMW) of the worker is ...

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