International Employee Benefit Network

Definition of "International employee benefit network"

Agreement among insurance companies through which a multinational employer is permitted to purchase employee benefits coverage's for two or more of its overseas subsidiaries under a single master policy. This working arrangement (network) may be composed of several overseas independent insurance companies, may consist of a cooperative agreement between a U.S. insurance company and an overseas insurance company, or may be administered by an insurance company that has several subsidiary companies overseas. Employee benefits provided through these multinational networks include life, health, pensions, disability income, and accidental death. Such a network pools the loss experiences of a particular employer's overseas subsidiaries. If the pooled loss experience is better than that expected through the premium charged, a dividend is paid to the employer. However, if the loss experience is worse than that expected through the premium charged, three courses of action are available: the adverse loss experience is charged to the employer's account with any negative balance shifted to the following loss-experience year; the adverse loss experience is absorbed by the insurance companies in the network, and any negative balance is not shifted to the following loss-experience year; the adverse loss experience is charged to the employer's account with any negative balance shifted to the following loss-experience year, and a contingency fund is established with annual contributions against which future adverse loss experiences can be charged. The pooling effect allows the employer's adverse loss experience in one country to be offset by better than expected loss experience in another country.