Definition of "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).

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Organization founded in 1993, the thesis of which is to apply quality management principles to insurance functions. To this end, the organization is involved in insurance industry-wide ...

Uneven quality of a product made by the same manufacturer. A manufacturer is responsible for producing products of similar quality, and can be held liable for those that deviate materially ...

Total amount of insurance on an insurer's books at a particular time. ...

Measure of the sensitivity of the insurance company's liability for the resultant higher expense rates than charged for in the premium. ...

Section of a policy specifying: parties to the contract (the insurance company and the person or business to be insured); terms of the policy when it goes into force, and when it ends; ...

Insured, or an applicant for insurance, with lower expectation of incurring a loss than the standard applicant. For example, an applicant for life insurance who does not smoke can usually ...

Addition to boiler and machinery insurance that covers loss to property or equipment caused by an interruption of power by a public utility. Coverage is available either on an hourly or ...

Sum total of the annual effective rate of return earned by an owner of a bond if that bond is held until its maturity date. This effective return includes the current income generated by ...

Amount established by an insurance company, but not required by state law, for any of a number of reasons, such as a reserve for payment of future dividends. A voluntary reserve is likely ...

Popular Insurance Questions