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
Section of the Internal Revenue Code that provides for the taking of the proceeds from one life insurance policy or annuity and the reinvesting of these proceeds immediately in another life ...
Property to be insured, or that is insured, which is located within the specific geographical region falling under the auspices of the fire department. ...
Interest rate credited on three-month United States Treasury bills. ...
Common element in property insurance that excludes electrical damage or destruction of an appliance unless the damage is caused by a resultant fire. ...
Life insurance policy option under which the dividends that have accrued may be applied to mature the policy as endowment insurance. ...
Same as term: engineering approach; human approach ...
Variable-rate bonds whose coupon and value increases as interest rates decrease. ...
worth of each accumulation unit at the end of each valuation period for a variable annuity. This value is similar to that of the net asset value for a mutual fund. ...
First historical mortality table used for the calculation of premium rates for group annuities. This table was subsequently replaced by the group annuity table, 1971. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.