LIC AAO Mains 2019- Financial and Insurance Market Questions | 21st June

Dr Subhash Chandra Khuntia assumed office of Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India in May 2018.

Insurance of property means insurance of buildings, machinery, stocks etc against Fire and Allied Perils, Burglary Risks and so on. Goods in transit via Sea, Air, Railways, Roads and Courier can be insured under Marine Cargo Insurance. Hulls of ship and boats can be insured under Marine Hull Insurance. Further, there are specialized policies available such as Aviation Insurance Policy for insurance of planes and helicopters. Thus Property Insurance is a very vast category of General Insurance and the type of cover that you need depends upon the type of property you are seeking to cover.

The Headquarters of IRDAI is in Hyderabad.

Mortality Charges- These are charges to provide for the cost of insurance coverage under the plan. Mortality charges depend on number of factors such as age, amount of coverage, state of health etc.

Following the recommendations of the Malhotra Committee report, in 1999, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was constituted as an autonomous body to regulate and develop the insurance industry. The IRDA was incorporated as a statutory body in April, 2000. The key objectives of the IRDA include promotion of competition so as to enhance customer satisfaction through increased consumer choice and lower premiums, while ensuring the financial security of the insurance market.

Premium Allocation Charge is a percentage of the premium appropriated towards charges before allocating the units under the policy. This charge normally includes initial and renewal expenses apart from commission expenses.

ULIP (Unit Linked Insurance Plan) is a life insurance product, which provides risk cover for the policy holder along with investment options to invest in any number of qualified investments such as stocks, bonds or mutual funds. As a single integrated plan, the investment part and the protection part can be managed according to specific needs and choices.

In insurance, incurred but not reported (IBNR) claims is the amount owed by an insurer to all valid claimants who have had a covered loss but have not yet reported it. Since the insurer knows neither how many of these losses have occurred, nor the severity of each loss, IBNR is necessarily an estimate.

Risk control is the method by which firms evaluate potential losses and take action to reduce or eliminate such threats.

The General Insurance Council has been constituted under section 64C of the Insurance Act, 1938 since 2001 by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The General Insurance Council is an important link between the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and the non-Life insurance industry. It also pushes for the Industry’s issues with the Government. While the Council plays the role envisaged for it by the Insurance Act, it also facilitates overall growth for the industry in a fair and equitable manner in the interest of all stake holders.

When you buy a bond you are loaning money to the underlying company. Ownership of a bond puts you in the position of being a creditor. A bond pays a fixed interest payment every six months, which is why it is called a fixed income investment, and these credit instruments with short maturities under one year are called money market investments. Individual bond prices move according to the credit quality of the underlying company. If the company loses a lot of money and has trouble paying its bills, the bond market will require a higher interest rate return on investment, which means the bond price will decline.

Purpose of Stock Exchanges-

Stock exchanges act as an agent for the economy by facilitating trade and disseminating information. Below are some of the ways exchanges contribute:

1. Raising Capital

2. Corporate Governance

3. Economic Efficiency

The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) is an international standard that measures a bank’s risk of insolvency from excessive losses. Currently, the minimum acceptable ratio is 8%. Maintaining an acceptable CAR protects bank depositors and the financial system as a whole.Expressed as a formula, the CAR equals the sum of the bank’s tier one capital plus tier two capital, divided by its risk-weighted assets. CAR is also known as CRAR (capital to risk assets ratio).

A derivative is an instrument whose value is derived from the value of one or more underlying, which can be commodities, precious metals, currency, bonds, stocks, stocks indices, etc. Four most common examples of derivative instruments are Forwards, Futures, Options and Swaps.

An Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) is a specialized financial institution that buys the NPAs or bad assets from banks and financial institutions so that the latter can clean up their balance sheets. Or in other words, ARCs are in the business of buying bad loans from banks.