Underwriting Cycle
Tendency of property and liability insurance premiums, insurers' profits, and availability of coverage to rise and fall with some regularity over time. A cycle can be said to begin when insurers tighten their underwriting standards and sharply raise premiums after a period of severe underwriting losses. Stricter standards and higher premium rates often bring dramatic increases in profits, attracting more capital to the insurance industry and raising underwriting capacity. On the other hand, as insurers strive to write more premiums at higher levels of profitability, premium rates may be driven down and underwriting standards relaxed in the competition for new business. Profits may erode and then turn into losses if more tax underwriting standards generate mounting claims. The stage would then be set for the cycle to begin again.
Popular Insurance Terms
Partial payment of medical service expenses required in group health insurance, in addition to the membership fee. For example, for each visit of a physician a member may be required to pay ...
Standard for insurance regulation in New York State and a model for insurance regulation elsewhere. For example, the standard fire policy was first adopted in New York State. Similarly, ...
Intense combustion resulting in a flame or glow. In order for the fire peril to be covered under property insurance, the fire must be a hostile fire, not a friendly fire. ...
Minimum standard of financial health for an insurance company, where assets exceed liabilities. State laws require insurance regulators to step in when solvency of an insurer is threatened ...
Purchasing bond investments that mature at different time intervals. ...
Accounting procedures that defer the full funding of a life insurance net level premium reserve to accommodate the policy acquisition cost in the early years of a policy. First-year policy ...
Regulation set forth by the national association of insurance commissioners (naic) to govern life insurance sales illustrations. Includes the following major provisions: POLICY OWNER must ...
System of charges to an insured that fluctuates according to the loss experience of that insured. This is a form of experience rating. ...
Contractual agreement between two parties in which they agree to exchange a stream of interest payments on either a fixed rate for a floating rate or a floating rate for a fixed rate. The ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.