Glossary
Choose a letter
- Technical or underwriting reserves
- Amounts that an insurer or reinsurer must place in reserves in order to pay out on claims insured, and on liabilities arising from policies written.
- Underwriting
- Decision by an insurer or a reinsurer to accept to cover a risk upon collection of a premium.
- Underwriting capacity
- The maximum amount that an insurance or reinsurance company can
underwrite. The limit is generally determined by the company's retained
earnings and investment capital. Reinsurance serves to increase a
company's underwriting capacity by reducing its exposure to particular
risks.
- Underwriting cycle
- Pattern in which Property and Casualty insurance and reinsurance premiums, profits and availability of coverage rise and fall over time.
- Underwriting expenses
- The aggregate of policy acquisition costs, including commissions, and that portion of administrative, general and other expenses attributable to underwriting activities.
- Underwriting year
- An underwriting year reinsurance contract reinsures losses incurred on underlying insurance policies that begin at any time during the reinsurance contract term. This means, for example, that if both the underlying insurance contracts and the reinsurance contract have twelve-month terms, the reinsurance contract will cover underlying losses occurring over a twenty-four month period.
- Unearned premium reserves
- For each reinsurance contract, these cover the portion of premiums written during the year relating to the period between the balance sheet closing date and the date at which the reinsurance contract expires.
- Unit-linked contract
- Life insurance contract or capitalisation certificate for which the amount guaranteed and bonus amounts are expressed, not in a specific euro amount, but by reference to one or more units of account such as mutual fund units or real estate investment trust units. Contractual guarantees are directly linked to upward or downward variations in a security listed on a regulated market or in the value of a real estate asset.
