A net premium valuation is an actuarial calculation, used to place a value on the liabilities of a life insurer.
It involves calculating a present value for the contractual liabilities of a contract, and deducting the value of future premiums. Both contractual liabilities, and future premiums in this calculation allow only for mortality and interest. The key with a net premium valuation is that the premiums being valued are theoretical measures - they make no reference to the actual premiums being charged by the insurer.
This technique is a well-established actuarial valuation method, that became popular because of its simplicity, consistency, and ease of calculation.
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.
An actuary is a professional with advanced mathematical skills who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. The name of the corresponding field is actuarial science which covers rigorous mathematical calculations in areas of life expectancy and life insurance. These risks can affect both sides of the balance sheet and require asset management, liability management, and valuation skills. Actuaries provide assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms.
Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in insurance, pension, finance, investment and other industries and professions. More generally, actuaries apply rigorous mathematics to model matters of uncertainty and life expectancy.
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of an insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness can also trigger payment. The policyholder typically pays a premium, either regularly or as one lump sum. The benefits may include other expenses, such as funeral expenses.
Variable universal life insurance is a type of life insurance that builds a cash value. In a VUL, the cash value can be invested in a wide variety of separate accounts, similar to mutual funds, and the choice of which of the available separate accounts to use is entirely up to the contract owner. The 'variable' component in the name refers to this ability to invest in separate accounts whose values vary—they vary because they are invested in stock and/or bond markets. The 'universal' component in the name refers to the flexibility the owner has in making premium payments. The premiums can vary from nothing in a given month up to maximums defined by the Internal Revenue Code for life insurance. This flexibility is in contrast to whole life insurance that has fixed premium payments that typically cannot be missed without lapsing the policy.
Term life insurance or term assurance is life insurance that provides coverage at a fixed rate of payments for a limited period of time, the relevant term. After that period expires, coverage at the previous rate of premiums is no longer guaranteed and the client must either forgo coverage or potentially obtain further coverage with different payments or conditions. If the life insured dies during the term, the death benefit will be paid to the beneficiary. Term insurance is typically the least expensive way to purchase a substantial death benefit on a coverage amount per premium dollar basis over a specific period of time.
Net asset value (NAV) is the value of an entity's assets minus the value of its liabilities, often in relation to open-end, mutual funds, hedge funds, and venture capital funds. Shares of such funds registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are usually bought and redeemed at their net asset value. It is also a key figure with regard to hedge funds and venture capital funds when calculating the value of the underlying investments in these funds by investors. This may also be the same as the book value or the equity value of a business. Net asset value may represent the value of the total equity, or it may be divided by the number of shares outstanding held by investors, thereby representing the net asset value per share.
Whole life insurance, or whole of life assurance, sometimes called "straight life" or "ordinary life", is a life insurance policy which is guaranteed to remain in force for the insured's entire lifetime, provided required premiums are paid, or to the maturity date. As a life insurance policy it represents a contract between the insured and insurer that as long as the contract terms are met, the insurer will pay the death benefit of the policy to the policy's beneficiaries when the insured dies.
The Embedded Value (EV) of a life insurance company is the present value of future profits plus adjusted net asset value. It is a construct from the field of actuarial science which allows insurance companies to be valued.
Financial reinsurance is a form of reinsurance which is focused more on capital management than on risk transfer. In the non-life insurance segment of the insurance industry this class of transactions is often referred to as finite reinsurance.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to actuarial science:
In the insurance industry in the United States, an experience modifier or experience modification is an adjustment of an employer's premium for worker's compensation coverage based on the losses the insurer has experienced from that employer. An experience modifier of 1 would be applied for an employer that had demonstrated the actuarially expected performance. Poorer loss experience leads to a modifier greater than 1, and better experience to a modifier less than 1. The loss experience used in determining the modifier typically comprises three years but excluding the immediate past year. For instance, if a policy expired on January 1, 2018, the period reflected by the experience modifier would run from January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2017.
In insurance, an actuarial reserve is a reserve set aside for future insurance liabilities. It is generally equal to the actuarial present value of the future cash flows of a contingent event. In the insurance context an actuarial reserve is the present value of the future cash flows of an insurance policy and the total liability of the insurer is the sum of the actuarial reserves for every individual policy. Regulated insurers are required to keep offsetting assets to pay off this future liability.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to finance:
Loss reserving is the calculation of the required reserves for a tranche of insurance business, including outstanding claims reserves.
A life annuity is an annuity, or series of payments at fixed intervals, paid while the purchaser is alive. The majority of life annuities are insurance products sold or issued by life insurance companies however substantial case law indicates that annuity products are not necessarily insurance products.
Auto insurance risk selection is the process by which vehicle insurers determine whether or not to insure an individual and what insurance premium to charge. Depending on the jurisdiction, the insurance premium can be either mandated by the government or determined by the insurance company in accordance to a framework of regulations set by the government. Often, the insurer will have more freedom to set the price on physical damage coverages than on mandatory liability coverages.
Solvency II Directive 2009 is a Directive in European Union law that codifies and harmonises the EU insurance regulation. Primarily this concerns the amount of capital that EU insurance companies must hold to reduce the risk of insolvency.
Satellite insurance is a specialized branch of aviation insurance in which, as of 2000, about 20 insurers worldwide participate directly. Others participate through reinsurance contracts with direct providers. It covers three risks: relaunching the satellite if the launch operation fails; replacing the satellite if it is destroyed, positioned in an improper orbit, or fails in orbit; and liability for damage to third parties caused by the satellite or the launch vehicle.
A with-profits policy (Commonwealth) or participating policy (U.S.) is an insurance contract that participates in the profits of a life insurance company. The company is often a mutual life insurance company, or had been one when it began its with-profits product line. Similar arrangements are found in other countries such as those in continental Europe.