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
Amount of insurance coverage that an insurance company is willing to write on a given category of business. ...
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Extent of the loss caused by accidents. Used in predicting the dollar amount of losses upon which the premiums are based. ...
Present value of a future sum of money to be paid at a stipulated future date. ...
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Membership organization of state insurance commissioners. One of its goals is to promote uniformity of state regulation and legislation as it concerns the insurance industry. The NAIC ...
Organization of property insurance companies whose goal is to prevent and uncover fraudulent automobile fire and theft claims. ...
Failure to act with the legally required degree of care for others, resulting in harm to them. ...
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