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

Premium income divided by the surplus account. ...

Low-cost life insurance sold by savings banks in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. SBLI is a popular source of life insurance in these states for two reasons: it is ...

Management philosophy developed by W. Edwards Deming, the thesis of which is the continuous improvement in quality through research in customer satisfaction and the empowerment of ...

Variation of ordinary life insurance under which current mortality experience and investment earnings are credited to the insurance policy either through the cash value account and/or the ...

Clause included in or attached to a fidelity bond designed to pay the losses that would have been paid under another specific bond had that specific bond's period of discovery not expired. ...

Amount of reinsurance accepted by a second reinsurer which is in excess of the original insurer's retention limit and the first reinsurer's first surplus treaty's limit. ...

Part of a marine cargo policy that exempts the policyholder from vouching for the seaworthiness of the vessel. For example, while a purchaser of hull marine insurance warrants that a ship ...

Amount designated as a future liability for life or health insurance to meet the difference between future benefits and future premiums, net level premium is determined so that this basic ...

Coverage that indemnifies a third party lender if a customer refuses to repay a loan made on a faulty product and the dealer who arranged the loan refuses to correct the fault. This ...

Popular Insurance Questions