Insurance Terms and Concepts

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Insurance can be defined as a contract which is represented by a policy, in which an individual or entity receives financial protection or reimbursement against losses from an insurance company. In another words it can also be a form of reimbursement from the insurance company for the damage caused to their property. The insurer and the insured sign a legal contract for the insurance which is termed as the insurance policy that gives financial security from the future uncertainties. In this article let us check important insurance terms and basic insurance concepts.

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Insurance Terms and Concepts

The Seven principles of insurance that has to be followed to ensure an appropriate functioning of the insurance contract is listed below

Utmost Good Faith
Proximate Cause
Insurable Interest
Indemnity
Subrogation
Contribution
Loss Minimization

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List of Insurance Terms 2021

Following are few of the insurance terms with definition that one has to know before taking an insurance.

Sl. No	Insurance Terms	Definition
1	Absolute Assignment	· It is an act of complete transfer of the ownership including all rights, benefits and liabilities of the policy completely to other party without any terms and condition.
2	Accidental Death Benefit and Dismemberment	· It is an additional benefit paid to the policyholder in the event of his death due to an accident. · Dismemberment benefit is paid if the insured dies or loses his limbs or sight in the accident.
3	Actual Cash Value	· It is a valuation of the damaged property · i.e. its monetary worth at market value immediately preceding the occurrence of the loss, is called actual cash value of the property. · It gives the estimate of the cost of replacement or repair of the damaged asset.
4	Actuaries	· It is a person with expertise in the fields of economics, statistics and mathematics, who helps in risk assessment and estimation of premiums etc for an insurance business, is called an actuary.
5	Adverse Selection	· It is a phenomenon wherein the insurer is confronted with the probability of loss due to risk not factored in at the time of sale.
6	Agent	· A person who represents an insurance firm and sells insurance policies on its behalf.
7	Annualized Premium	· The total amount of premium paid annually is called the annualized premium.
8	Annualized Premium Equivalent	· It is a common measure of ascertaining the business sales in the life insurance industry. · It is the sum of the regular annualized premium from the new business plus 10% of the first single premium in a given period.
9	Appraisal Value	· It is used to measure the value of an insurance company. It is also known as actuarial appraisal value.
10	Assessed Value	· For the purpose of taxation, a property is assessed for its monetary worth. This ascertained price is known as assessed value.
11	Assignor	· A party or entity who transfers the rights of the contract they hold to another party (assignee) is called the assignor.
12	Auto Insurance	· Popularly known as motor insurance, this type of insurance provides cover for loss or damage to any vehicle like car, two-wheeler or commercial vehicle, etc.
13	Bancassurance	· Bancassurance means selling insurance product through banks. · Banks and insurance company come up in a partnership wherein the bank sells the tied insurance company’s insurance products to its clients.
14	Beneficiary	· In life insurance, the beneficiary is the person or entity entitled to receive the claim amount and other benefits upon the death of the benefactor or on the maturity of the policy.
15	Cede Or Ceding Company	· Ceding company is an insurance company that transfers the insurance portfolio to a reinsurer. · The insurer however is liable to pay the claims in the event of default by the reinsurer.
16	Claim Amount	· Claim amount can be defined as the sum payable at the maturity of an insurance policy or upon death of the person insured to the beneficiary or the nominee or the legal heir of the insured.
17	Concealment	· Concealment is the act of hiding or not putting forward any relevant fact in front of the insurer that need to be revealed. · An applicant commits this fraudulent act intentionally or unintentionally that may lead to loss to the insurer.
18	Contingent Beneficiary	· In a life insurance policy or an annuity plan, contingent beneficiary gets proceeds from the policy in the event of a demise of the primary beneficiary at the same time as that of the insured.
19	Dating Back	· Dating back is a facility given to the insured person using which he can ask the insurer to start the policy from an earlier date than the one on which he actually signs the policy. It is alternatively called back dating.
20	Deferred Acquisition Cost	· The practice of deferring the outlays incurred in the acquisition of new business over the term of the insurance contract is called deferred acquisition cost.
21	Embedded Value	· Embedded value is the sum of the net asset value and present value of future profits of a life insurance company.
22	Exclusions	· Exclusions are the cases for which the insurance company does not provide coverage. · These are the conditions excluded from the insured event to avoid losses to the company.
23	Expense Loading	· Expense loading is the amount included in the premium charged by an insurance company to cover its administrative and maintenance costs.
24	Fire And Special Perils Policy	· Fire and special perils policy is an insurance contract that safeguards the insured against unforeseen contingency caused by accidental fire
25	First Class Life	· First Class Life is a categorical term present in the classification of life insurance risk. It denotes low life risk.
26	First Unpaid Premium	· These are funds from the policyholder’s accounts that are not allocated among them for reasons like delays in approvals etc.
27	Funds For Future Appropriation	· These are funds from the policyholder’s accounts that are not allocated among them for reasons like delays in approvals etc.
28	General Insurance	· Insurance contracts that do not come under the ambit of life insurance are called general insurance. · The different forms of general insurance are fire, marine, motor, accident and other miscellaneous non-life insurance.
29	Group Policy	· Group policy provides coverage to a group of people which can be a professional group like employee-employer group or an informal group.
30	Guaranteed Interest Plans	· Guaranteed interest plans are insurance plans which assure the insurer a guaranteed rate of interest for a specific or fixed period of the policy.
31	Guaranteed Surrender Value	· The guaranteed surrender value is the amount guaranteed to the policy holder in case of voluntary termination of the policy by the policy holder before maturity.
32	Guaranteed Survival Benefit	· Guaranteed survival benefits are benefit given to the policy holder during or upon completion of the policy tenure.
33	Incurred But Not Reported Reserves	· The IBNR, which is the abbreviated form of incurred but not reported reserves (IBNR), are the reserves for claims that become due with the occurrence of the events covered under the insurance policy, but have not been reported yet. The IBNR reserves can be computed using methods like Incurred Chain Ladder, Paid Chain Ladder, Paid Bornhuetter-Ferguson etc.
34	Indemnity	· Indemnity means making compensation payments to one party by the other for the loss occurred.
35	Insurability	· The characteristic of being acceptable for insurance is called insurability.
36	Insurable Interest	· Insurable interest is defined as the reasonable concern of a person to obtain insurance for any individual or property against unforeseen events such as death, losses, etc.
37	Insurable Risk	· A risk that conforms to the norms and specifications of the insurance policy in such a way that the criterion for insurance is fulfilled is called insurable risk.
38	Insurance Advisor	· A professional who provides specialized guidance and advice for investment in various insurance schemes is an insurance advisor or insurance consultant.
39	Investment Risk	· Investment risk can be defined as the probability or likelihood of occurrence of losses relative to the expected return on any particular investment.