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).
Popular Insurance Terms
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. ...
In property insurance, a stipulated agreement between the insurance company and the insured that the amount of insurance coverage under the policy is sufficient to be in compliance with the ...
Computer system established by London trade associations for processing insurance policies. The work of LIMNET involves the notification and settlement of insurance policy claims. ...
Record of losses, whether or not insured. This record is used in predicting future losses and in developing premium rates based on expectation of insured losses. ...
Decision in the absence of a plaintiff or defendant at the specified court time. ...
Process of distributing the costs associated with losses and risks over a number of insureds. ...
Property coverage for damage or destruction of structures in the course of construction. For example, the standing frame of a house destroyed by fire would be covered. ...
Insurance company's investment in mortgages that have defaulted (mortgages in default) divided by its adjusted surplus account. The smaller this ratio, the more financially sound the ...
Reserves required by state regulators. Because regulators must assure that an insurance company remains solvent and that it can pay future claims, they set conservative standards for ...
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