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
Means of supplementing an executive's retirement benefits by deferring a portion of his or her current earnings. Deferring income in this manner encourages the loyalty of executives. To ...
Process in which the policy-holder surrenders the policy when: cash proceeds can be invested elsewhere at a higher return than that being earned on the cash value within the policy; ...
Found under the "Exceptions and Exclusions Section for All Medical Benefits" in many health insurance policies that exclude: complications arising from elective, nontherapeutic voluntary ...
Percentage of life insurance or other insurance policies remaining in force; percentage of policies that have not lapsed. The higher the percentage, the greater the persistency. Since it is ...
Payments from an employee's employee benefit insurance plan that can be rolled over to an individual retirement account (IRA) or to another plan maintained by the employer that accepts ...
Total amount of commissions and expense allowances paid by the reinsurer to its ceding company minus the total amount of reinsurance commissions and expense allowances that, in turn, its ...
Provision of a reinsurance contract that states that the reinsurance company remains liable for its predetermined share of a claim submitted by an insured, even though the primary insurance ...
Life or health insurance policy written on an applicant who has passed a medical examination and signed the application but has not paid the premium due. ...
Account that is similar in form to the health plan flexible spending account (FSA) with contributions to this account used to reimburse employees who are parents for expenses at a ...
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