First, let’s look at how one gets a life insurance policy in the first place. The growing trend in the insurance industry is for online purchase of coverage. The internet generation tends to make decisions quickly and wants the information to make the decision right now. Term life is the easiest type of life insurance to qualify for and procure. The process begins with a term life insurance quote.

A simple search will lead to a quote site and the quote form is usually presented on the first page. The requester typically must provide date of birth, gender, whether a smoker or not, the state of residence, the duration of coverage, the amount of coverage, and whether payments will be made annually or monthly. The submit button initiates software that searches the databases of dozens of providers and in less than a minute the comparison term life rates are returned to the requester. The individual has the information needed to make a decision.

The insured person now makes regular payments as agreed upon in the initial contract with the insurance provider that continue at a fixed rate for the term selected by the individual. A typical policy coverage amount is anywhere from $50,000 to $5,000,000. The average policy term is 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years or 30 years. What then is the benefit for the insured individual that prompts signing the contract? It is the peace of mind during ones life that loved ones won’t be left with no money upon ones death.

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.