# Insurance Glossary

> Insurance terms by part: business, regulation, distribution, rating, policy admin, claims, reinsurance, personal, commercial, comp, life, embedded, platform.

Insurance borrows its words from contract law, accounting, actuarial science and a century of state regulation, and the same word shifts with context: a reserve is an adjuster's estimate on one claim and an actuary's estimate for a whole accident year, an exposure is a claimant against a coverage in a claims system and the unit premium is charged on (a car-year, $100 of payroll) in a rating manual, a binder is a temporary contract on one desk and an MGA's authority on another, and a premium is written, earned, billed and collected at four different times. Entries are grouped by the part of the volume that explains them, alphabetized within each group, and each is one line and a link to the chapter that owns the idea; a word with two meanings appears once per meaning, qualified. Terms another volume's glossary already defines with the same meaning, such as the [Payments](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/payments/glossary), [Banking & Lending](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/banking-and-lending/glossary), [Field Operations](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/field-operations/glossary) and [Workplace & Collaboration](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/workplace-and-collaboration/glossary) glossaries, keep their definitions. The volume's own names for the core records (insurer, insurer authority, party, party role, producer, producer license, appointment, product, form, rate table, submission, quote, policy, policy term, policy transaction, policy version, risk, coverage, premium entry, billing account, invoice, installment, payment, commission, claim, exposure, reserve, claim payment, recovery, claim task, reinsurance contract, cession, document, notice, regulatory filing, complaint) are the ones in [The Core Data Model](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/insurance-business#the-core-data-model).

## Parts

- [The Business](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/the-business): 54 terms
- [Regulation and Solvency](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/regulation-and-solvency): 44 terms
- [Distribution](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/distribution): 40 terms
- [Rating and Underwriting](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/rating-and-underwriting): 27 terms
- [Policy Administration](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/policy-administration): 23 terms
- [Claims](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/claims): 48 terms
- [Reserves, Cat Risk and Reinsurance](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/reserves-cat-risk-and-reinsurance): 61 terms
- [Personal Lines](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/personal-lines): 32 terms
- [Commercial and Specialty Lines](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/commercial-and-specialty-lines): 28 terms
- [Workers' Compensation](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/workers-compensation): 19 terms
- [Life and Annuities](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/life-and-annuities): 54 terms
- [Embedded and Service Contracts](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/embedded-and-service-contracts): 20 terms
- [Running the Platform](https://www.syntaqx.com/books/insurance/glossary/running-the-platform): 18 terms

## References

**Reference**

- [NAIC: 2025 Annual Property and Casualty and Title Insurance Industries Analysis Report (PDF)](https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/2025-annual-property-and-casualty-and-title-insurance-industries-analysis-report.pdf), how the industry's loss, expense and combined ratios are defined and reported
- [Fla. Admin. Code 69O-170.010](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/florida/Fla-Admin-Code-Ann-R-69O-170-010), pro rata and short-rate return premium
- [Guidewire: Overview of modifying jobs (PolicyCenter Cloud API)](https://docs.guidewire.com/cloud/pc/202507/cloudapibf/cloudAPI/topics/123-PCpolicies/00-overview-of-modifying-jobs/c_overview_of_modifying_jobs.html), policy transactions as the only way a policy changes

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