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Loss Reserves in the London Market

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

G.P.M. Maher
G.P.M. Maher
Affiliation:
Tillinghast -Towers Perrin, Castlewood House, 77-91 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1PX, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)20 7872 0525; Fax: +44 (0)20 7379 7478; E-mail: maherg@tillinghast.com
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Abstract

This paper addresses the process of estimating loss reserves for a company or syndicate writing in the London Market. Particular emphasis is placed on insurers maximising the value of the process, and ensuring that the process is not simply a series of mathematical calculations. The use of sophisticated mathematical techniques should not distract from the importance of understanding the business and ensuring that data are correct. Sophisticated mathematical techniques can give rise to misleading impressions of confidence and accuracy to estimates, which are often subject to considerable uncertainty. The principles (rather than the detailed techniques) are illustrated by a case study based on a hypothetical London Market writer. Many of these principles are relevant to other markets.

Keywords

Loss ReservesLoss RatiosLondon MarketProjectionsTriangulationsDataReconciliationExposureClaimsPremiumsReinsuranceUncertainty
Type
Sessional meetings: papers and abstracts of discussions
Information
British Actuarial Journal , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , 01 October 1995 , pp. 689 - 760
Copyright
Copyright © Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 1995

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