Insurance Futures
Futures contracts (legally binding contract that stipulates that delivery of an asset will be taken or delivery of an asset will be made at a future time at an agreed upon price at the current moment) on insurance lines to include catastrophic insurance futures, automobile insurance futures, homeowners insurance futures, and so forth, traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Traditionally, precious metals such as gold and silver; agriculture commodities such as cattle, corn, and soy beans; and United States Treasury issues such as bonds and bills, have all been traded on the CBOT. The aim of the transaction with these futures is to cancel the contract with a gain before the delivery of the commodity. (Who would want cattle delivered to their house?) On the other hand, the insurance futures contract concerns itself with the dollar value the market attaches to an index. In turn, this index is an expectation of how much of the premium income generated by a particular line of insurance will have to be allocated to pay off incurred losses. For example, if the automobile insurance line generates an income of $5,000,000 and the market has an expectation that 90% of that income will have to be allocated to paying off incurred losses, the market will value that futures contract at a price somewhat less than $450,000. This is because of such factors that have to be accounted for as incurred but not reported losses (IBNR).
Popular Insurance Terms
Bonds that are less than investment grade plus the bonds that are in or approaching default, which comprise part of the insurance company's investment bond portfolio. ...
Difference in the amount of losses between the beginning and end of a time period. ...
Action by the owner of a cash value policy to relinquish it for its cash surrender value. Since the depression of the 1930s, companies have reserved the right to delay payment of a cash ...
Person insured under a blue CROSS hospitalization or blue shield medical health insurance plan. ...
Report that an insurance company must file annually with the State Insurance Commissioner in each state in which it does business. The statement shows the current status of reserves, ...
Fixed or stated amount of interest paid by a security expressed as a percent of the par value of the security. The longer the length of time until maturity, the higher the coupon rate to ...
Retirement plan under which a discrete increment of periodic retirement income is credited to an employee for each year of service with an employer. This increment is either a flat dollar ...
Specific powers that a prospective insured believes the insurance company has granted to its agent. For example, if the insurance company has furnished the agent a rate book, application ...
Type of guaranteed investments contract in which the interest credited is adjusted on a periodic basis to reflect the investment earnings of the underlying assets of the contract. ...
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