If you are financially minded but unfamiliar with what a reinsurance job might entail we’ve compiled four reasons why companies carry out reinsurance and the two main different types of reinsurance.

Four Reasons for Reinsurance

Risk Transfer – you only have to look at the amount of money an insurance company would have to pay out if your house was damaged in a natural disaster to realise how there is the potential for them to have huge costs. By reinsuring themselves with other insurers they are able to spread the risk so that no matter how many of their policy are claimed upon they have the ability to pay out.

Income Balancing – for any large company its important they can predict their income for cash flow and often shareholder benefits. As you can imagine this would be difficult for insurance companies if they weren’t reinsuring. A number of big payouts if they weren’t reinsured could have a very significant effect on their bottom line. By reinsuring they are able to manage this risk more effectively.

mproved Surplus – on the balance sheet of a company it’s good to have a surplus. This is the sum of assets minus liabilities. Successful reinsurance can reduce the liability pushing up the surplus level upwards. It is desirable as it makes the company more financial stable and more attractive to potential investors.

Arbitrage – another reason reinsurance is often popular is due to arbitrage. If you are not familiar with arbitrage in simple terms it is where you sell something at a high cost which you then buy at a low cost. In reinsurance this would be where a company sells you insurance at one price yet is able to insure that same risk at a lower cost from another supplier. This is of course hugely appealing to insurance companies and fuels some of reinsurance popularity.

Two Types of Reinsurance

Proportional – this type of reinsurance is often known as quote share insurance. If companies are entering into a proportional reinsurance arrangement they divide the risk up as a percentage. Assuming insurance company alpha reinsures 50% of my house insurance with insurance company beta, if I then make a claim both companies would pay their percentages of the settlement. The agreement doesn’t have to be with just two companies, it is possible for several companies all insuring the same risk sometimes with different percentages.

Non-Proportional – this system works in slightly different way. Assuming I felt on any policy I could only pay out a £1000 but there is a likely hood that the risk could require more coverage I could get reinsurance for £9k. If this even then does take place and costs £5 thousand I can then recover £4k from the reinsurance company.

When an insurance company insures itself it is called as reinsurance, where by it shares the risk of loss with another company. Insurance companies need reinsurance, when they face the danger of having to pay a multitude of claims at the same time and hence have no option but to face bankruptcy, where as if they have reinsured they are protected to a certain extent. Event like the September 11 attack of the twin towers have caused the closure of several small reinsurance agencies, hence the significance of reinsurance for an insurance company is tremendous.

Types of Reinsurance:

There are two kinds of reinsurances, treaty reinsurance and facultative reinsurance.
Treaty Reinsurance: This kind of reinsurance requires that the reinsurer will assume part or all of a ceding company’s responsibility for certain sections or classes of business in accordance with the terms of the policy. It is an obligatory contract as the ceding company has to cede the business and the reinsurer is obliged to assume the business as per the treaty. It is the preferred type of reinsurance when groups of homogenous risks are considered.

Facultative Reinsurance: This kind of reinsurance is used while considering a particular underlying risk of an individual contract. It is the reinsurance of all or part of a single policy after the terms and conditions have been negotiated. It reduces the ceding company’s exposure to risk from an individual policy. It is non- obligatory.

In another way, reinsurance is classified as proportional and non-proportional reinsurances.
Proportional Reinsurances: The two companies share the premium as well as risk. The reinsurer usually pays a ceding commission.

Pro-Rata Reinsurance: It is a classification based on the way the two companies share the risk. The cedent and the reinsurer share a pre decided percentage of the premium and losses. It is used widely as it provides surplus protection. There are two types of pro-rata reinsurance, quota share and surplus share.

Quota Share Pro-Rata Reinsurance: The primary insurer cedes a fixed percentage of premiums and loses for every risk accepted.

Surplus Share Pro-Rata Reinsurance: It is different in that not every risk is ceded but only those that exceed certain predetermined amounts.

Non-Proportional Reinsurance: As the name suggests it is not proportional and the reinsurer only responds if the loss suffered by the insurer exceeds a certain amount.

Excess of Loss: It covers a single risk or a certain type of business. Catastrophe reinsurance is a type of excess of loss reinsurance. It provides the captive with a great deal of flexibility.
Stop Loss Reinsurance: It covers the whole account and is also known as excessive loss ratio reinsurance.

These are the various types of reinsurances. There are firms that offer their services as well as their products to help new business start up flourish and succeed.