A search that returns what you asked for.

The AOS: a confidential companion to the SAO that gives the regulator more detail, including the actuary's own range and point estimate against the carried amount.

Also called a link ratio, the ratio of cumulative losses at one maturity to the prior maturity. It measures how much a year's losses typically grow from, say, 12 to 24 months.

The credentialed actuary formally appointed by the board to sign the company's Statement of Actuarial Opinion.

The loss size at which an excess-of-loss layer begins to respond. Everything below it stays with the cedant.

A reserving method that blends the chain ladder with an a-priori expected loss ratio. It's steadier than the chain ladder for green, immature accident years.

An insurer set up to write the risks of its own parent or members rather than the open market, whether single-parent or group, and a frequent buyer of actuarial opinions.

The claim-by-claim estimates set by adjusters for reported claims. Add IBNR on top and you get the total reserve.

A commission the reinsurer pays back to the cedant on a proportional treaty, meant to reimburse acquisition and overhead expenses.

The portion of premium and risk a primary insurer passes (cedes) to a reinsurer.

The workhorse reserving technique: multiply the latest known losses by development factors to project each year out to its ultimate value. The Reserve Estimator on this page runs a volume-weighted chain ladder.

Loss ratio plus expense ratio. Below 100% means the book made an underwriting profit before investment income; above 100% means it lost money underwriting.

Liability and physical-damage coverage for business vehicle fleets; a line under sustained loss-trend pressure.

How much weight a given body of experience deserves on its own versus a broader benchmark. Thin data gets low credibility.

The state (or country) where an insurer is legally chartered and primarily regulated. It drives which filing rules and SAO requirements apply.

Non-proportional reinsurance that responds only once a loss pierces an attachment point, up to a limit. Priced as layers in a tower.

The unit that measures risk for a line: payroll for workers comp, car-years for auto, sales for some GL.

A licensed carrier that issues policies on behalf of a program or captive that isn't admitted, passing most of the risk on through reinsurance.

Third-party bodily-injury and property-damage coverage for businesses, long-tailed and a staple of commercial reserving and pricing work.

Incurred But Not Reported: the estimated cost of claims that have happened but the insurer hasn't paid or fully recorded yet. It's the part of the reserve you can't see in the data, and usually the part that decides whether a balance sheet is adequate.

An ILF: the multiplier that prices a higher policy limit relative to a base limit, reflecting how losses thin out in upper layers.

A band of loss ratio within which the cedant takes its losses back before the reinsurer's cover resumes, a way to align interests.

The pure expected cost of claims per unit of exposure, before any loading for expenses or profit.

A cumulative factor (also CDF) that carries the latest losses all the way to ultimate. It's the product of the remaining age-to-age factors.

A grid of losses by accident year (rows) and maturity (columns) that shows how claims grow as they age. The starting point for almost every reserve estimate.

Losses divided by premium. The single most-quoted measure of how a book of business is performing.

Money an insurer sets aside today to pay claims that will settle in the future. Getting it right is the central question behind every reserve opinion.

An MGA: an agency delegated underwriting authority by a carrier to bind and administer a specialized book of business.

The statutory 'yellow book' financial filing every U.S. insurer submits to its domiciliary regulator each year.

Historical premium restated as if today's rates had always been in effect, so it can be compared cleanly against losses.

The share of premium left for losses after expenses and profit are set aside, the target a rate is designed to hit.

Expected loss cost per exposure unit, frequency times severity. The foundation a rate is built on.

A treaty where the reinsurer takes a fixed percentage of every premium and every loss on a book. Simple, proportional, and common in program and fronting deals.

Reserving isn't a single number. The actuary develops a defensible range; the opinion speaks to whether the carried reserve falls within it.

Whether the premium being charged is enough to cover expected losses, expenses, and a reasonable profit. The question behind every pricing study.

The actuarial answer to 'how much should rates change?' is the indicated adequacy of current rates expressed as a percentage.

Reinsurance premium divided by the layer limit, shorthand for how expensive an excess layer is.

Amounts owed to the cedant by its reinsurers for paid and unpaid losses, an asset that also gets scrutinized in a reserve review.

The amount of risk an insurer keeps net for its own account after reinsurance.

An RRG: a liability insurer owned by its policyholder-members, chartered in one state but able to operate across state lines under federal law.

The part of the NAIC annual statement that lays out loss and premium history by line and accident year, the regulator's own loss triangles.

A ceding commission that moves with the treaty's loss experience: a better loss ratio earns the cedant a higher commission, and vice versa.

The SAO: a signed opinion, filed with the annual statement, in which a qualified actuary opines on whether the carried reserves are reasonable. The reason most carriers, RRGs, and captives need an actuary at year-end.

SAP: the conservative, solvency-focused accounting basis insurers use for regulatory filings, distinct from GAAP.

An extra development factor applied past the end of the triangle to capture losses that keep developing beyond the oldest data you have.

Treaty reinsurance covers a whole defined book automatically; facultative covers a single risk, negotiated one at a time.

The adjustment that brings historical losses and exposures to the cost level expected during the future policy period, capturing inflation and frequency shifts.

The total a group of claims will ultimately cost once every claim is fully settled, the destination the triangle is projecting toward.

Statutory coverage for employee injury and lost wages. A long-tailed line where reserving and development factors matter enormously.