Catastrophic Insurance Futures And Options
First exchange-traded risk management tool specifically developed for the insurance industry by the Chicago Board of Trade as a way for the primary insurance company to offset its underwriting exposures. See also futures tied to reinsurance. These contracts are designed to provide the insurance company with a hedge against underwriting losses resulting from catastrophic occurrences. The futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a commodity or financial instrument at a set price on a given date. The option permits the owner to decide whether or not to exercise the option to buy or sell the commodity or financial instrument by the stipulated exercise date. The insurance option trading is based on the loss ratio concept (losses incurred over a stipulated time period divided by premiums earned over the same time period). For example, assume an insurance company buys an option on the loss ratio that will fall within the range of 50% to 70%. Should losses fall within that range, the insurance company would then exercise the option and sell the contract, thereby enabling the company to make a profit on the option. This profit could then be used by the company to offset losses. Should the loss portion not fall within the 50% to 70% range, the option would expire at zero value.
Popular Insurance Terms
Money paid through state and federal programs to workers who are temporarily unemployed. The program, which was created by the social security act of 1935, is managed by the individual ...
Pension plan that allows an employee to contribute by electing to have money deducted from each paycheck. Some qualified plans such as 401 (k) allow employees to contribute pre-tax dollars, ...
Condition characterized by illnesses indicative of reduced immune respon ...
Placement of verbal descriptive information into numerical form for the purposes of analysis. ...
Beneficiary's choice, in a life insurance policy or annuity, for receiving income payments for a given period of time. The number of payments are fixed by the payee; the benefit amount is ...
Additions of new entrants into an employee benefit insurance plan. ...
Section providing protection under three coverages: Coverage E (Personal Liability} coverage in the event a suit is brought against the insured because of bodily injury and/or property ...
Applications for insurance coverage that have been forwarded to an insurer but not yet processed. ...
Deliberate act or omission, including trespass, assault and battery, invasion of privacy, libel, and slander. An intentional tort is a branch of civil liability. Liability insurance can be ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.