Insurance Glossary

While the word seems clear enough, what exactly constitutes and accident is a much haggled over concept. The exact interpretation will dependend on the legislation that applies but in general terms the following elements are typically important for this concept (and any of hope of coverage) to apply: the occurrence must be unintended, unforeseen, unexpected.

Confusingly also known as accident and health this is a generic term for coverage that protects from loss because of illness or injury which may result in loss of life, loss of earnings, or expenses incurred.

Contrary to what one might expect this is not about how enjoyable the accident was but relates to the frequency and severity of claims under a policy. It is also called claims experience.

An event beyond human origin or control. The volcanic ash cloud which created substantial air travel disruption in April 2010 is a typical, if extreme, example of an Act of God.

Two different meanings exist:

Admitted / non-admitted can refer to whether or not a country requires an insured to purchase insurance from an insurer licensed in this country. This has now become an important topic as compliance with local tax rules and other regulations is becoming more of an issue for multinational programs.

In the US this also refers to a foreign insurer licensed by the insurance department of the state in question.

Can arise from libel, slander, copyright infringements etc in the course of advertising products or services

Is also known as maximum possible loss (MPL) this is a worst-case approach to estimating the percentage of insured property which could possibly be destroyed by the insured perils.

All Risks

Alternative Risk Transfer: General term for non-traditional methods of risk transfer (captives, use of financial markets etc)

Unlike legal or statutory liability this refers to liability assumed under contract or a similar agreement between parties.