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
Number of times losses occur, and their severity. These statistics measure expectation of loss, and are critical in establishing a basic premium or the pure cost of protection that is based ...
Type of major medical deductible amount that acts as a corridor between benefits under a basic health insurance plan and benefits under a major medical insurance plan. After benefits are ...
Rate applied when two or more separate buildings are insured under one policy, and/or when two or more separate contents are insured under one policy. ...
Approach in pension plan funding under which a separate account is maintained for comparing actual contributions to the plan with the minimum contributions required to meet future employee ...
Addition to the pure cost of insurance that reflects agent commissions, premium taxes, administrative costs associated with putting business on an insurance company's books, and ...
Changing state of the economy associated with changes in human wants and desires such that losses or gains occur. Dynamic changes are not insurable. ...
Endorsement to an automobile policy that pays specified amount for towing and related labor costs. ...
Legislation in a number of states requiring insurers to pay the face amount of a fire insurance policy in case of total loss to a dwelling (or sometimes another specified type of building), ...
Alleged torts or breaches of contract, but not crimes. Action is brought by one individual against another at the litigant's own expense, within the statute of limitations. The losing party ...
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