General insurance
Encyclopedia
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
. It is called property
Property insurance
Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance or boiler insurance. Property is insured in two main...
and casualty
Casualty insurance
Casualty insurance, often equated to liability insurance, is used to describe an area of insurance not directly concerned with life insurance, health insurance, or property insurance. It is mainly used to describe the liability coverage of an individual or organization's for negligent acts or...
insurance in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Non-Life Insurance in Continental Europe.
In the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, General insurance is broadly divided into three areas: personal lines, commercial lines and London market.
The London market insures large commercial risks such as supermarkets, football players and other very specific risks. It consists of a number of insurers, reinsurers, [P&I Clubs], brokers and other companies that are typically physically located in the City of London. The Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
is a big participant in this market.http://www.iii.org/commerciallines/global/lloyds/ The London Market also participates in personal lines and commercial lines, domestic and foreign, through reinsurance
Reinsurance
Reinsurance is insurance that is purchased by an insurance company from another insurance company as a means of risk management...
.
Commercial lines products are usually designed for relatively small legal entities. These would include workers' comp (employers liability), public liability, product liability, commercial fleet and other general insurance products sold in a relatively standard fashion to many organisations. There are many companies that supply comprehensive commercial insurance packages for a wide range of different industries, including shops, restaurants and hotels.
Personal lines products are designed to be sold in large quantities. This would include autos (private car), homeowners
Home insurance
Home insurance, also commonly called hazard insurance or homeowner's insurance , is the type of property insurance that covers private homes...
(household), pet insurance, creditor insurance and others.
ACORD http://www.acord.org which is the insurance industry global standards organisation. ACORD has standards for personal and commercial lines and has been working with the Australian General Insurers to develop those XML standards, standard applications for insurance, and certificates of currency.
Market trends
USA was the largest market for non-life insurance premiums written in 2005 followed by the EU and Japan,India
National Insurance Company Limited was incorporated in 1906 with its Registered office in Kolkata. Consequent to passing of the General Insurance Business Nationalisation Act in 1972, 21 Foreign and 11 Indian Companies were amalgamated with it and National became a subsidiary of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) which is fully owned by the Government of India. After the notification of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Act, on 7th August 2002, National has been de-linked from its holding company GIC and presently operating as a Government of India undertaking.National Insurance Company Ltd (NIC) is one of the leading public sector insurance companies of India, carrying out non life insurance business. Headquartered in Kolkata, NIC's network of about 1000 offices, manned by more than 16,000 skilled personnel, is spread over the length and breadth of the country covering remote rural areas, townships and metropolitan cities. NIC's foreign operations are carried out from its branch offices in Nepal.
Befittingly, the product ranges, of more than 200 policies offered by NIC cater to the diverse insurance requirements of its 14 million policyholders. Innovative and customized policies ensure that even specialized insurance requirements are fully taken care of.
The paid-up share capital of National is Rs.100 crores. Starting off with a premium base of 500 million rupees (50 crores rupees) in 1974, NIC's gross direct premium income has steadily grown to 4021.97 million rupees (4021.97 crores rupees ) in the financial year 2007-2008.
National transacts general insurance business of Fire, Marine and Miscellaneous insurance. The Company offers protection against a wide range of risks to its customers. The Company is privileged to cater its services to almost every sector or industry in the Indian Economy viz.
Banking, Telecom, Aviation, Shipping, Information Technology, Power, Oil & Energy, Agronomy, Plantations, Foreign Trade, Healthcare, Tea, Automobile, Education, Environment, S
National Insurance is the second largest non life insurer in India having a large market presence in Northern and Eastern India.
The steady growth in premium income has been commensurately matched by profits over the years. As of March 2008, NIC's general reserve stood at 1457.25 million rupees (1457.25 crores rupees) with an asset value of 8867.99 million rupees (8867.99 crores rupees) signaling strong financial fundamentals. No wonder than that NIC has been accorded “AAA/STABLE” financial strength rating by CRISIL rating agency, which reflects the highest financial strength to meet policyholders’ obligations.