Reinsurance Fundamentals

Reinsurance Fundamentals is a comprehensive overview of the reinsurance industry and the financial principles that guide it. It is also a penetrating study of real-world reinsurance problems and how to solve them. After an examination of the industry's underpinnings and a brief but fascinating look at its history, author Ross Phifer presents a detailed reinsurance primer. Writing for those familiar with insurance concepts, he offers an in-depth examination of how the reinsurance industry works, explains fundamental ideas, presents practical illustrations of when and how reinsurance arrangements should be considered, and describes the application of reinsurance to speculative financial transactions such as derivatives. Phifer analyzes different types of reinsurance agreements, clause by clause, and supplies thorough explanations of key concepts and their impact on the overall risk transfer. Among the topics discussed are reinsurance cessions, structures, markets, underwriting, proportional pricing, accounting, claims, and contracts. Reinsurance Fundamentals is an invaluable tool for in-house counsel, compliance officers, internal auditors, and risk managers in investment and commercial banking, securities, investment management, mutual funds, and pension fund management. It is also an important resource for corporate financial officers and an excellent reference for insurance underwriters, claims executives, risk managers, and attorneys.

Insurance is perhaps the most effective device for managing ‘risk,’ which is a pervasive phenomenon in our lives. We can sometimes avoid or reduce it but never entirely eliminate it. Whether you are a Graduate student who is studying insurance as a part of your curriculum, or an Executive managing your Organization’s Insurance and Risk Management Program this book will provide you with a strong conceptual foundation, comprehensive knowledge of non-life and life insurance products, and perspectives on how insurance functions as a part of the economy. Essentially, you will understand ‘why’ it is needed, ‘what’ solutions it provides, and ‘how’ different business processes and professionals work together to deliver the vital compensation to victims of disasters. Organized in 18 chapters that are comprehensive yet brief, it continuously relates facts to theories, concepts to processes, events to their context, and the rule-of-thumb to underlying basic principles. Thus, insurance will be demystified, and you will be empowered to decode ‘insurance speak.’

In 1994 a Reinsurance Working Party was set up by AIDA (Association Internationale de Droit des Assurances) with the aim of producing a series of comparative reports considering how particular aspects of reinsurance law operate in a range of jurisdictions.

This text introduces the commonly used, basic approaches for reserving and ratemaking in General Insurance. The methods are described through detailed examples that are linked from one chapter to another to illustrate their practical application. Also, professionalism requirements and standards of practice are presented to set the context for the methods and examples.