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| Insurance Guide | | |

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Un title page
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| | Is
There a Brightline Test? |
Neither FAS 113 nor SAP 62 defines the terms "reasonable" or "significant."
Ideally, one would like to be able to substitute values for both terms. It would
be much simpler if one could apply a test of an X% chance of a loss of Y% or greater.
Such tests have been proposed, including one famously attributed to an SEC official
who is said to have opined in an after lunch talk that a 10% chance of a 10% loss
was sufficient to establish both reasonableness and significance. Indeed, many
insurers and reinsurers still apply this "10/10" test as a benchmark
for risk transfer testing. It should be obvious that an attempt to use any
numerical rule such as the 10/10 test will quickly run into problems. Suppose
a contract has a 1% chance of a 10,000% loss? It should be reasonably self-evident
that such a contract is insurance, but it fails one half of the 10/10 test. It
does not appear that any "brightline" test of reasonableness nor signifance
can be constructed. Excess of loss contracts, like those commonly used for
umbrella and general liability insurance, or to insure against property losses,
will typically have a low ratio of premium paid to maximum loss recoverable. This
ratio (expressed as a percentage), commonly called the "rate on line"
for historical reasons related to underwriting practices at Lloyds of London,
will typically be low for contracts that contain reasonably self-evident risk
transfer. As the ratio increases to approximate the present value of the limit
of coverage, self-evidence decreases and disappears. Contracts with low
rates on line may survive modest features that limit the amount of risk transferred.
As rates on line increase, such risk limiting features become increasingly important.
Reference: www.wikipedia.org
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Auto
Insurance 12 December,2003 Automobile
Insurance  known
in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and
may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage
to the insured's vehicle itself. | |