Distribution Glossary · Insurance

1033 waiver: a regulator's written consent under 18 USC 1033(e) letting a person convicted of a felony involving dishonesty or breach of trust work in the business of insurance (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Account current: an agency's periodic statement to a carrier of every agency-bill transaction and the net premium due after commission (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Agency bill: billing in which the agency invoices and collects from the insured and remits premium net of its commission to the carrier (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Agency management system (AMS): an agency's system of record for clients, policies across carriers, activities, accounting and commissions, kept current by carrier downloads (Comparative Raters & Agency Systems).
Appointment: an insurer's filing with a state naming a producer as its agent, required in most states before the producer acts for that insurer (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Book roll: moving an agency's block of policies from one carrier to another at renewal (Comparative Raters & Agency Systems).
Bridging: handing a comparative rater's quote, with its data and quote reference, into the chosen carrier's portal to bind and issue (Comparative Raters & Agency Systems).
Broker: a producer who represents the buyer in placing insurance, rather than an insurer (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Broker of record letter: an insured's letter moving its account to a new broker or agent, effective on a date (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Captive agent: an agent who sells only one insurer's products, often as an independent contractor running a branded office (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Chargeback (commission): commission returned to the carrier when premium is returned on a cancellation or reduction, at the original transaction's rate (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Commission schedule: the versioned rates in an agency contract by insurer, product, state and new or renewal business (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Comparative rater: software that takes a risk's details once and returns quotes from many carriers side by side (Comparative Raters & Agency Systems).
Compensation disclosure: a producer's statement to a buyer of how it is paid, required of producers paid by the customer and, in New York, of all producers (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Consent evidence: the record proving a consumer's consent to calls or texts: the language shown, sellers named, page, time, action and number (Leads, Aggregators & Consent).
Contingent commission: a commission from a carrier that depends on the claims experience (and often the growth or volume) of the producer's book, computed after a measurement period (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Designated responsible licensed producer (DRLP): the licensed individual an agency names as responsible for its compliance in a state, required for its business entity license (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Direct bill: billing in which the carrier bills and collects from the insured and pays the agency its commission by statement (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Direct Bill Commission Statement (DBCS): a carrier's commission statement delivered to an agency's system by download for reconciliation (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Direct channel: a carrier selling through its own website, app and call center with licensed employees (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Download (agency): carrier-to-agency delivery of policy, claim, commission and document data into an agency management system (Comparative Raters & Agency Systems).
Exempt commercial purchaser: a large commercial buyer with a risk manager that, after disclosure and a written request, may buy surplus lines coverage without a diligent search (15 USC 8205, 8206) (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Home state (surplus lines): the insured's principal place of business or residence, or where most taxable premium is, the only state that may tax a nonadmitted placement (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Independent agent: a licensed agency appointed by several carriers that quotes and places business with any of them (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Just-in-time appointment: an appointment filed when a producer's first business with the insurer arrives, rather than when the contract is signed (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Lead (insurance): a consumer's quote request and contact details, with a consent record, sold to carriers or agents who will call or text (Leads, Aggregators & Consent).
Line of authority: the class of insurance a producer license allows: life, accident and health, property, casualty, variable, personal lines, credit or a limited line (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
National Producer Number (NPN): the unique NAIC identifier for an individual or business entity producer, the same in every state (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
NIPR: the National Insurance Producer Registry, the NAIC affiliate that runs the Producer Database and the gateway for licensing, appointments and terminations (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Nonresident license: a producer license from a state other than the home state, granted on the strength of the home-state license where states reciprocate (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
One-to-one consent: the FCC's 2023 rule limiting written consent to a single seller, vacated by the Eleventh Circuit in January 2025 and repealed in July 2025 (Leads, Aggregators & Consent).
Premium trust account: the account in which a producer holds premium and return premium as a fiduciary, with a balance never below what it owes insurers and insureds (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Prior express written consent: a signed written agreement authorizing a seller to deliver telemarketing calls or texts by autodialer or artificial voice to a designated number, required under the TCPA rules (Leads, Aggregators & Consent).
Producer: a licensed agent, agency, broker or MGA that sells insurance, identified by its National Producer Number (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Producer Database (PDB): NIPR's database linking state licensing systems, with every producer's licenses, lines and appointments, updated daily (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Producer of record: the producer under whose license and appointment a policy transaction was written (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Profit-sharing commission: a contingent commission computed as a share of the margin between a target loss ratio and the producer's actual loss ratio (Commissions & Agency Accounting).
Surplus lines broker: a licensed broker who places risks with nonadmitted insurers, files each placement and collects and remits the surplus lines tax (Agents, Brokers & Channels).
Termination (appointment): an insurer ending a producer's appointment, reported to the state within 30 days with whether it was for cause (Producer Licensing & Appointments).
Wholesaler: a broker that places business for retail agents with markets they can't reach, usually surplus lines or specialty programs (Agents, Brokers & Channels).