Definition of "Insurance futures"

Futures contracts (legally binding contract that stipulates that delivery of an asset will be taken or delivery of an asset will be made at a future time at an agreed upon price at the current moment) on insurance lines to include catastrophic insurance futures, automobile insurance futures, homeowners insurance futures, and so forth, traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Traditionally, precious metals such as gold and silver; agriculture commodities such as cattle, corn, and soy beans; and United States Treasury issues such as bonds and bills, have all been traded on the CBOT. The aim of the transaction with these futures is to cancel the contract with a gain before the delivery of the commodity. (Who would want cattle delivered to their house?) On the other hand, the insurance futures contract concerns itself with the dollar value the market attaches to an index. In turn, this index is an expectation of how much of the premium income generated by a particular line of insurance will have to be allocated to pay off incurred losses. For example, if the automobile insurance line generates an income of $5,000,000 and the market has an expectation that 90% of that income will have to be allocated to paying off incurred losses, the market will value that futures contract at a price somewhat less than $450,000. This is because of such factors that have to be accounted for as incurred but not reported losses (IBNR).

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Statutory liabilities minus the interest MAINTENANCE RESERVE minus the ASSET VALUATION RESERVE. ...

Liability incurred by a business for acts other than those of its own employees. This particular situation may arise when an independent contractor is hired. The business can be held liable ...

Investment strategy that advocates the transfer of amounts from one category of investment to another category according to a perception of how each of these categories of investments will ...

Assets that are not readily convertible into cash 'without a significant loss of principle, such as an automobile, a house, television set, a radio, etc. ...

When people think of home insurance policies, they usually only think about the obvious coverage of its house structure. But that, known as Dwelling Insurance, is only one of the coverage ...

Same as term Captive Agent: representative of a single insurer or fleet of insurers who is obliged to submit business only to that company, or at the very minimum, give that company first ...

Modifications of the traditional defined benefit plan in which employees are credited with a specified percentage for each year of recognized service with the employer. Upon termination of ...

Same as term Blanket Position Bond: covers all employees of a business on a blanket basis with the maximumlimit of coverage applied separately to each employee guilty of a crime. ...

Privately formed insurance company whose objective is to make a profit. ...

Popular Insurance Questions