ABI: Association of British Insurers, the principal representative body for companies, including some foreign companies, authorized to carry on insurance business in the UK.
Acceptance: the agreement by an insurer to accept a proposal for insurance which ordinarily concludes the contract even though the policy may not be issued until later (see also notification).
Accident basis: a basis of reporting for general insurance business in the Accounting and Statements Rules, according to the calendar or accounting year in which an accident or loss occurred (compare with underwriting basis).
alienated: In general insurance, this term describes property that an insured no longer owns or holds title to. Generally a Public Liability policy will cover the insured's liability for premises alienated by him.
Bordereau: information submitted by a cedant to a reinsurer giving details of individual risks insured under a reinsurance treaty.
Broker: a professional adviser who assists a client to obtain the insurance cover he/she needs; although strictly an agent for the insured, the broker is remunerated by way of commission from the insurer .
Catastrophe insurance: a form of excess of loss reinsurance under which the ceding insurer is indemnified, subject to a specified retention and an over-riding limit, against an accumulation of losses arising from a catastrophic event (for example, an earthquake or hurricane).
Claim: invocation of a right to a payment under a contract of insurance; also the amount set aside in the accounts of an insurers respect of payments made or anticipated.
Co-insurance: the insurance, usually of large risks, by two or more direct insurers as a means of spreading the risk; also used in North America to describe certain types of reinsurance.
Commission: the remuneration paid to an agent or broker for the introduction of business, usually in the form of a percentage of the premium.
Direct insurer: an immediate insurer of a risk, as opposed to a reinsurer who insures derivative risks, that is the risks assumed by a direct insurer.
Endorsement: any writing on a policy, in addition to the original wording, which changes the terms of the contract, or any rider additional to the main text.
Ex gratia: without legal obligation .
General and Insurance Expense: The expense of an insurer other than commissions and taxes. Called "General and Insurance Expense" in the convention statement blank.
General Insurance: Insurance of (non-life) risks where the policy offers cover for a limited period, usually one year.
General Liability: Covers the policyholder's legal liability for injury, property damage or financial loss caused to others.
IARD: incendie, accidents et risques divers; meaning fire, accident and other risks, the French equivalent of general insurance.
Industrial Risk Insurers (Insurer Operations/Property Insurance): A pool originally formed in 1890 by the major stock insurance companies, to compete with the Factory Mutual System on large industrial accounts that are protected by automatic sprinklers and meet certain other minimum protection requirements. The operation's name was changed to Industrial Risk Insurers in 1975 by the merger of the Factory Insurance Association and Oil Insurance Association.
Limitations: Exceptions to coverage and limitations of coverage as contained in an insurance contract. For instance, a limit of liability would be one limitation on an Automobile policy. Another example would be policies written to cover only certain described automobiles, or, in the case of General Liability Insurance, certain described premises.
Minimum solvency margin: the solvency margin which an insurance company is required by regulatory legislation to maintain; failure to maintain the required margin leads to intervention by the regulators and possibly to a ban on taking on new business.
Peril: the actual or potential cause of loss.
Policy: any document containing written evidence of the contract between the insurer and the insured; if the full terms of the contract are located in more than one document, all relevant documents taken together constitute the policy.
Property and casualty insurance: the North American term for general insurance.
Property Insurance: A type of insurance that provides a benefit if insured items are damaged or lost because of fire, theft, accident, or other cause described in the policy.
Reinsurance: the insurance of the risks assumed by or potential losses of another insurer (the direct insurer) whereby the latter covers a proportion of the risks assumed or the eventuality of atypically large losses.
Special perils: additional risks frequently added to a commercial fire policy, either individually or as a group.
Surplus reinsurance: a form of reinsurance under which the cedant decides the limit of the liability which it wishes to retain on any risk or class of risk.
Treaty: A general reinsurance agreement which is obligatory between the ceding company and the reinsurer containing the contractual terms applying to the reinsurance of some class or classes of business, in contrast to a reinsurance agreement covering an individual risk.
Underwriter: An insurer, anyone who accepts an insurance risk (from the act of writing one's name under the details of the risk set out in the policy).
