A
- Additional policy reserve
- An additional policy reserve provisioned to supplement the ordinary policy reserve in a case when the insurance company recognizes a risk that future payment may not be fulfilled.
- Administrative expense margin
- The administrative expense margin is the difference between the administrative expenses related to the relevant policy assumed by a company with respect to a given year in calculating premiums and the actual administrative expenses for that year.
- ALM (Asset Liability Management)
- ALM is a risk management method for managing the overall structure of assets and liabilities of a company. With insurance companies in particular, it is essential that assets and liabilities be managed in consideration of the special characteristics of super long-term liabilities that insurance policies represent.
- Annualized premiums
-
An adjusted figure for premiums paid using monthly, annual, or lump-sum payment methods showing total
premiums paid on an annual basis. - Assumed business expense rate
- One of the forecast rates used in the calculation of insurance premiums. It is the rate used to include business expenses necessary for administering insurance policies.
- Assumed investment yield
- One of the forecast rates used in the calculation of insurance premiums. It is the predetermined discount rate based on the expected earnings from the investment of insurance premiums.
C
- Contingency reserve
-
A reserve included as part of the policy reserve to account for the risk of insurance payment events occurring at a higher-than-expected rate due to higher-than-expected mortality and morbidity rates, and the risk of actual investment yields being lower than the assumed investment yields related to outstanding policies. Contingency reserve can be classified into:
- Contingency reserve I Corresponds to insurance risk
- Contingency reserve II Corresponds to assumed investment yield risk
- Contingency reserve III Corresponds to minimum guarantee risk relating to variable annuity and others
- Contingency reserve IV Corresponds to insurance risk of Third Sector insurance
- Core profit
- An indicator showing core period earnings of life insurance companies, made up of insurance income and expenses (which include income from insurance premiums and insurance benefits and business expenses), and investment income and expenses (which include mainly interest, dividends and income from real estate for rent). It is not an item on the Company's statement of operation, but is calculated by deducting capital gains, such as gains (losses) on sales of securities and other one-time gains (losses), from ordinary profit.
E
- ERM (Enterprise Risk Management)
- A strategic management method used to achieve managerial goals such as raising corporate value and maximizing earnings, through the integrated management of profit, risk and capital.
- ESR (Economic Solvency Ratio)
- An indicator of capital adequacy based on economic value, calculated by dividing the surplus by economic capital. An ESR of 100% means that capital and risk are equal. The higher the ESR, the greater the amount of capital relative to risk. Although ESR is widely used mainly in Europe, there is no standardized calculation method. Each life insurance company calculates ESR individually based on its internal models.
G
- General account
- The aggregate of a life insurer's assets, other than those allocated to separate accounts. General account assets are invested by a company to meet fixed guaranteed rates of return for policyholders, and that company bears the investment risk on such assets.
I
- Investment yield margin
- The difference, with respect to a given year, between the actual investment yield for that year and the guaranteed rate of return used in calculating premiums.
M
- Morbidity rate
- The relative incidence of disability due to disease or physical impairment.
- Mortality rate
- Rates of death, varying by such parameters as age, gender, and health, used in pricing and computing liabilities for future policyholder benefits for life insurance and annuity products.
- Mortality rate margin
- The difference between the mortality rate assumed by a company with respect to a given year in calculating premiums and the actual mortality rate for that year.
N
- Negative spread
-
Negative spread = (Investment yield on core profit - Average assumed investment yield) x Policy reserve in general account
- “Investment yield on core profit” is calculated by dividing the numerator as investment revenues and expenses (investment profit in general account) included in core profit less the amount of provision for accumulated interest due to policyholders by the denominator as policy reserve in general reserve in general account.
- “Average assumed investment yield” is calculated by dividing the numerator as assumed interest (general account only) by the denominator as policy reserve in general account.
- “Policy reserve in general account” represents the earned policy reserve calculated for policy reserve in general account less the contingency reserve by the Hardy method as follows:
(Policy reserve at beginning of fiscal year + Policy reserve at the end of fiscal year - Assumed interest) x 1/2
- Net level premium method
- A method for setting aside policy reserves. Using this method, policy reserves are calculated assuming a constant amount of business expenses each time a premium is paid over the term of the policy. Generally speaking, the bulk of the business expenses of life insurance companies are incurred in the first fiscal year of a contract such as for the payment of remuneration to sales representatives and agencies, costs related to issuing insurance certificates, and commissions for medical examinations to doctors. In this sense, the net level premium method is a sounder way of setting aside reserves.
- Non-participating policy
- Policies under which the policyholder receives no policyholder dividends. Non-participating policies generally feature lower premiums than participating or semi-participating policies.
P
- Participating policy
- Policies under which the policyholder is eligible to share in the divisible surplus of a company—calculated based on the mortality rate margin, investment yield margin, and administrative expense margin—through the receipt of annual policyholder dividends.
- Policy reserve
- A reserve established for the fulfillment of insurance claims and other payments related to a company's outstanding policies that are expected to be paid in the future. The policy reserve consists of a premium reserve (other than unearned premiums), an unearned premium reserve, a repayment reserve, and a contingency reserve. A company uses the net level premium method to calculate the amount it sets aside each year as a policy reserve. The policy reserve is one of the three reserves comprising the reserve for policy and other reserves.
R
- Reserve for outstanding claims
- A reserve for liable claims such as insurance claims, other payments, and benefits that remained outstanding as of the balance sheet date. The reserve includes amounts that are not yet claimed but the insurer is deemed to be liable.
- Reserve for policyholder dividends
- A reserve used to fund the payment of policyholder dividends. The reserve for policyholder dividends is one of the three reserves comprising the reserve for policy and other reserves. For a mutual life insurance company, a transfer to reserve for policyholder dividends is treated as a disposition of net surplus. For a joint stock corporation, provision for reserve for policyholder dividends is treated as an expense.
- Reserve for price fluctuations
- Pursuant to provisions of the Insurance Business Act, companies maintain reserves to cover losses due to price fluctuations in assets subject to market price volatility, particularly investments in stocks, bonds, and foreign currency-denominated investments. This reserve may be used only to reduce deficits arising from price fluctuations of those assets.
S
- Semi-participating policy
- Policies under which a company does not distribute yearly policyholder dividends to its policyholders, but instead distributes a portion of the net positive return on investments in excess of the guaranteed rate of return as calculated at the end of every five-year period. Semi-participating policies generally feature lower premiums than participating policies and higher premiums than non-participating policies.
- Separate account
- Assets related to a company's individual variable insurance and group variable annuity products, including group employee pension fund insurance and national pension fund insurance, are allocated to the company's separate account. Separate account assets and liabilities represent funds that are administered and invested in by the company to meet specific investment objectives of policyholders. The investments in each separate account are maintained separately from those in other separate accounts and an insurer's general account and are generally not subject to the general liabilities of the insurer. The investment results of the separate account assets generally pass through to the separate account policyholders, less management fees, so that an insurer bears limited or no investment risk on such assets.
- Solvency margin ratio
- An risk indicator calculated as the total solvency margin (including net assets, the reserve for price fluctuations, contingency reserve, reserve for possible loan losses, etc.) divided by 1/2 of total risk, which includes such factors as insurance risk due to a major earthquake or other disaster, investment risk, and various other risks. If a life insurance company's solvency margin ratio falls below 200%, the regulatory authorities will require management to introduce corrective measures to quickly return the company to soundness.
- Standard yield rate
- A rate which is required by the supervisory authorities to be applied in calculating the “standard policy reserve (a policy reserve required to be set aside from the standpoint of ensuring the business soundness of life insurance companies and protecting policyholders)”.
- Surrender and lapse amount
- The total amount of money reimbursed on the surrender or lapse of insurance policies in a given fiscal year. Surrender occurs when policyholders choose to discontinue their policies. Lapse occurs when the deadline for payment of premiums that are in arrears is exceeded.
T
- Term life insurance
- A life insurance policy where payments are made only if the person insured dies during the term of the insurance policy. In general, term life insurance provides no, or only a small amount of, surrender value. However, for term life insurance taken out for longer periods, surrender value can be accumulated based on the number of years that the policy has been held (cash-value type of term life insurance).
- Third sector insurance
- In the Japanese insurance industry, life insurance products and non-life insurance products are called “First Sector” and “Second Sector” insurance products, respectively, and insurance products which have intermediate characteristics of both products are called “Third Sector” insurance products. Examples include medical care, cancer, accident, and nursing care insurance.
V
- Variable annuity
-
An annuity in which the return to the holder is variable, rather than fixed, and reflects the results of investments made in the company's separate accounts.
Among variable annuity products, there are products that offer guaranteed minimum death benefits or guaranteed minimum living benefits. Generally, the life insurance company bears the risks of these minimum guarantees. However, at T&D Financial Life, the company adopts a scheme using put options to reduce loss in the event of a drop in the market. Under this scheme, hedging costs are included in the insurance premium as a risk guarantee cost. Also, since it is less economical to use a full hedge, the critical portion of the risk is hedged while the remainder is covered with the company's capital.
Illustration of risk management using hedging
Z
- Zillmer method
- A method by which insurers may calculate policy reserves, which, in effect, allows policy acquisition costs to be deferred. Under this method, the pure insurance premium portion used in the calculation of policy reserves is reduced during the first year of the policy. This reduction makes the policy reserve provisions smaller than those under the net level premium method. In years following the first year, the reduction in reserve provisions is gradually adjusted to eliminate the difference between the net level premium method and the Zillmer method over a predetermined term of, for example, 5 or 10 years.
