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
Return of a pro rata portion of an agent's commission for a policy that is canceled prior to its expiration date. A commission is paid to an agent in the expectation that the premium will ...
Approach in loss prevention placing emphasis on physical features of the workplace as a potential cause of injuries. For example, if a product is inherently dangerous in design or during ...
Period of time after the expiration of a claims made basis liability coverage policy during which claims may be made. ...
Requirement of an employer to report annually to the U.S. Treasury Department the names of employees who terminated employment with vested benefits, and the amount of the benefits. The ...
Coverage of the employer for all employees on a blanket basis, with the maximum limit of coverage applied to any one loss without regard for the number of employees involved. Both ...
Provisions, usually requiring an additional premium, that are appended to an insurance contract. These include waiver of premium (WP), disability income (DI), accidental death clause, ...
Stipulation that every participant in health care has the right according to law to purchase health insurance from a private insurance entity. The participant's purchase is voluntary and ...
Life insurance rate determined by the valuation of company policy reserves. State regulators set strict standards for policy reserves to make certain that life insurers will have enough ...
Form that provides coverage for a business whose inventory has fluctuating values during the year. The amount of insurance coverage is adjusted monthly, quarterly, or annually to reflect ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.