Reinsurance Jobs Key Terms

Know these reinsurance key terms before you apply for a job
By Shannon Tani Reinsurance can offer job hunters a promising career, but before sending in a resume, it's important to fully grasp the terms that people associate with reinsurance and reinsurance jobs. For example, what type of reinsurance job interests you? A documentation analyst and a claims analyst have different job duties. To perform your job correctly, you need to know everything about underwriting, risk transfer and proportional reinsurance. While there are a large number of industry terms, knowing these common reinsurance terms will help get you started.

Underwriter

The underwriter assesses how much a particular policy should be worth and how much the customer should pay for it. It's important for the underwriter to evaluate the potential risks involved with any customer to better make these estimations.
Try:  InsureLane.com describes underwriting and the job duties of an underwriter.

Risk transfer

Insurance companies use reinsurance as a form of risk transfer. Holding a reinsurance policy transfers some of the risk to the reinsurance company.
Try:  Air Worldwide discusses some of the ways that companies transfer risk.

Proportional reinsurance

In proportional reinsurance, the insurer cedes to its reinsurer a predetermined proportion of the liability and premium of those policies in the same proportion. For example, the company may agree to accept 40 percent of the risk if they also receive 40 percent of the policy premiums.
Try:  Swiss Re offers a brief description and a more detailed downloadable brochure on proportional reinsurance.

Claims adjuster

Many who want to work in reinsurance get a job as a claims adjuster, also known as a claims analyst. The claims adjuster is responsible for handling a claim filed by a company. This includes processing the paperwork and also doing research, such as interviewing witnesses, to ensure that the claim is valid.
Try:  The US Department of Labor publishes an Occupational Outlook Handbook. The section on insurance claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners and investigators discusses the job duties of the claims adjuster.

GAAP accounting

Generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP accounting, are a set of standards that policy boards set to ensure that companies follow the same principles with their accounting. This makes it easier for investors to compare companies. All who work in financial sectors must use GAAP accounting.
Try:  Street Authority gives examples of GAAP accounting and explains why it is important.

NAIC

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) regulates the insurance industry to protect insurance consumers. Reinsurance agents must make sure that they follow the standards set by the NAIC.
Try:  Learn more about the NAIC by visiting its website.