Technical terms in insurance, reinsurance, cyber, AI and special risks. Bilingual academic definitions FR / EN.
Cyber event caused by unintentional software or hardware failure, as opposed to malicious cyber resulting from a deliberate attack.
A concentration of correlated exposures liable to produce simultaneous losses from a single event.
A sophisticated attacker, often state-sponsored, conducting targeted, discreet and long-lasting intrusions for espionage or sabotage.
Strategy of capturing encrypted streams or files today, storing them without attempting to read them, and waiting for a machine able to decrypt them to become available.
A malicious actor, often state-sponsored, conducting targeted and prolonged intrusions into a network while seeking to remain undetected.
Attack combining email identity spoofing and manipulation to obtain a fraudulent wire transfer, straddling the boundary between cyber cover and conventional fraud cover.
A ransomware strategy focusing exclusively on large organizations capable of paying very high ransoms.
An email scam impersonating an executive or a supplier to obtain a fraudulent transfer, with no malware involved.
A computer system of the insured or its service providers located outside an impacted state but affected by the collateral effects of a state-backed cyber operation.
Financial obfuscation technique consisting of successively converting cryptocurrencies from one blockchain to another to conceal the origin of illicit funds.
The February 2024 attack on a US health-payments platform, the archetype of cyber accumulation through a shared vendor.
Set of servers, protocols and communication channels that an attacker uses to remotely control their implants or botnets after compromising target systems.
Automated attack that bulk-tests credential pairs from prior data breaches to take over new accounts.
Technology service provider designated by the European supervisory authorities as systemic for the financial sector, and subject on that basis to a regime of direct oversight.
A signature attached to a content attesting to its origin and integrity, to authenticate the true rather than detect the fake.
Standardized system for identifying and scoring software vulnerabilities, used to prioritize patches and assess an insured's patch-management maturity.
Malicious act using a computer system to cause harm, as opposed to an unintentional cyber incident. Central term in LMA 5400 and 5401 property clauses.
The set of minimum cybersecurity practices and measures that any organization should implement to reduce its exposure to common cyber threats.
Disruption or failure of a computer system of non-malicious origin, as opposed to an intentional cyber act. The LMA 5400 write-back covers physical damage resulting from such an incident.
A model breaking a cyberattack down into successive stages, from initial reconnaissance to the final action on the target.
Use of a computer system by, at the direction of, or under the control of a sovereign state to disrupt, deny, degrade, manipulate or destroy information in a computer system.
Unauthorized transfer of data outside an organization's controlled perimeter, constituting the key component of double extortion and a trigger for regulatory obligations.
Attack aimed at exhausting a target system's resources by deploying a network of compromised machines, rendering the service unavailable.
A synthetic medium, voice or video, generated by artificial intelligence to convincingly imitate a real person, becoming a vector of fraud and disinformation.
An attack that saturates an online service under a massive flow of requests from many machines, in order to render it unavailable.
Technique used by malware to automatically and dynamically generate a large number of domain names that will serve as command-and-control channels, making infrastructure blocking practically impossible.
A ransomware technique combining data encryption with the threat of publication to increase pressure on the victim.
Architecture allowing kernel observation programs to run in a sandboxed space, avoiding the crash risks associated with conventional kernel-level drivers.
Behavioral detection and incident-response solutions for endpoints and, in the case of XDR, across all infrastructure layers.
A technology that continuously monitors endpoints to detect, analyze and neutralize malicious behavior, beyond the traditional antivirus.
A service essential to the maintenance of vital functions of a sovereign state, including financial institutions, health services and utility services, whose disruption may trigger the impacted state qualification.
Rental of turnkey fabrication capabilities, putting professional-grade attacks into the hands of amateurs.
A deliberately exposed and instrumented computing resource designed to lure, observe and analyze attackers without risking production systems.
A set of hostile operations remaining below the threshold of open conflict, designed to stay undeclared, unattributable and ambiguous.
Threshold defined in LMA cyber war clauses beyond which a state-backed cyber operation is considered to have had a major detrimental impact on a sovereign state.
The set of processes and capabilities mobilized to detect, contain, eradicate and recover from a security incident; the quality of the response largely determines loss severity.
An attack that hides malicious instructions inside data processed by an AI system in order to subvert its behavior.
A cybercriminal specialized in reselling pre-obtained access to corporate networks, upstream of the final attack.
A technique that bypasses the camera outright by injecting a fabricated stream into the verification system.
Software architecture in which a driver operates at the most privileged level of the operating system, where a failure causes an immediate and unrecoverable system halt.
Emergency deactivation mechanism designed to immediately halt a system, malware or AI model in the event of undesired behavior, misuse or a security threat.
Phase of a cyberattack in which the attacker moves from system to system after initial compromise, seeking higher-value targets.
A control meant to guarantee that a real, present human stands before the camera, the digital substitute for physical presence.
Attack technique that hijacks legitimate OS tools and features to move through a network, without dropping detectable malware.
Cybercriminal group that operated the most prolific ransomware-as-a-service network between 2019 and 2024, before its partial dismantlement by Operation Cronos.
Attack in which a third party secretly interposes between two communicating parties to intercept, read or alter their exchanges without their knowledge.
Authentication mechanism requiring at least two distinct verification factors, drastically reducing the risk of account compromise even when credentials are stolen.
A method requiring several distinct proofs of identity to access a system, now an almost systematic underwriting requirement in cyber insurance.
Destructive 2017 cyberattack attributed to Russian military intelligence, spread via Ukrainian accounting software and the trigger of the first major cyber insurance disputes.
International law enforcement operation in February 2024 that partially dismantled the LockBit ransomware group's infrastructure and identified 194 affiliates.
Process of identifying and protecting information that, if it reached an adversary, would allow them to deduce intentions, capabilities or vulnerabilities.
The process of identifying, testing and deploying security patches in order to reduce the window of exposure to known vulnerabilities.
Security assessment exercise consisting in simulating a real attack to identify vulnerabilities before an attacker can exploit them.
Attack technique using fraudulent emails or messages to steal credentials or install malware, and the leading initial-access vector in cyber losses.
Family of algorithms designed to resist a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, standardized from August 2024 and whose deployment is framed by public deadlines set at 2030 then 2035.
Cryptocurrency using advanced cryptographic protocols to make transactions and addresses untraceable by default, unlike bitcoin.
Technique by which an attacker or process gains higher rights than those granted, to access resources normally beyond its reach.
Software vulnerability in which a program's behavior depends on the unintended ordering or timing of concurrent events, which an attacker can exploit to alter system state between a check and its use.
A cybercriminal business model in which operators rent a turnkey ransomware kit to affiliates in exchange for a share of the ransom.
Attack-simulation exercise conducted by a mandated team to probe the defenses of an IT system or AI model by emulating the behavior of a real adversary.
Set of malicious software designed to implant itself at the deepest level of a system, conceal its presence from detection tools and maintain persistent access without the knowledge of the user or operating system.
Industrial control system enabling remote supervision and control of physical processes, whose compromise can result in physical damage.
Attack that extracts secret information, typically cryptographic keys, by analyzing the physical or temporal emanations of a system in operation rather than attacking the algorithm itself.
Log correlation and incident-response automation platforms that reduce threat detection and handling times.
Cyber exposure implicitly embedded in a traditional policy that neither explicitly mentions nor excludes cyber.
A shared digital component whose single failure can trigger simultaneous losses across a very large number of insureds.
Security monitoring and cyber incident response team, whose existence and maturity are a cyber underwriting criterion.
Psychological manipulation aimed at deceiving an individual into disclosing information or performing an unauthorized action, without any technical exploit.
Machine-readable inventory of the software components entering a product, of their versions and of their known vulnerabilities, required by the European cyber resilience regulation.
A personalized form of phishing aimed at a specific person or organization after reconnaissance, and the main gateway for attacks.
Process of formally attributing a cyber operation to a sovereign state or to entities acting at its direction or under its control.
Effective ability to replace one provider with another, measured in migration time rather than market share, and the only criterion genuinely expressing the systemic character of a dependency.
An attack that compromises a trusted supplier or component in order to reach, by ricochet, all of its customers.
An entirely fabricated identity mixing real and invented data, whose fraud stays long invisible for want of a victim to report it.
Risk that a single cyber event simultaneously affects a large number of interconnected insureds, generating an accumulation of correlated claims that cannot be modeled with traditional actuarial tools.
Accumulated gap between the security state of a system and the state it ought to present, created by trade-offs rational when taken and long lacking a maturity, a creditor and a unit of measurement.
Proactive practice in which analysts actively search for signs of compromise within a network before any automated alert surfaces them.
Cyber threat intelligence, encompassing the collection and analysis of indicators of compromise and attacker tactics to anticipate and detect intrusions.
A downtime threshold below which no indemnity is due under contingent business interruption cover, often eight to twelve hours.
Registration of domain names deliberately close to a legitimate domain to deceive users who make a typing error or do not check the URL.
Global ransomware of May 2017 exploiting the EternalBlue vulnerability to spread automatically across unpatched networks.
Tactic in which an attacker compromises a website legitimately visited by their target to infect it without its knowledge, rather than attacking the victim directly.
Malware designed to destroy or render data irrecoverable, with no intent of ransom, often for sabotage or geopolitical ends.
A security model that assumes no implicit trust, even inside the network, and verifies each access according to identity and context.
A vulnerability unknown to the software vendor, for which no patch yet exists, and which can therefore be exploited before any defense is available.
Cyber cover explicitly provided for and priced in a policy, as opposed to silent cyber.
Total maximum amount the insurer commits to pay for all losses of a given category over the policy period, regardless of the number of events that occur.
The maximum amount the insurer will pay for all claims in a period, across all events combined.
Arrangement under which insurer and policyholder fix at inception the amount payable in the event of a total loss, with no fresh valuation at the time of the claim.
The steady flow of small, frequent losses that gives a portfolio a stable, predictable average.
French fund financing the prevention of major natural risks, fed by a levy on catastrophe insurance premiums.
Harm to the physical integrity of a person, irreversible and heavily indemnified, which distinguishes the serious claim from mere material damage.
Cover for the loss of margin and additional costs suffered by a business whose operations are interrupted.
Two ways of triggering a liability cover, depending on whether one retains the date of the harmful event or the date of the victim's claim.
Ground movement peril linked to moisture variation in clay soils, a growing loss source worsened by climate change.
Economic and financial risk associated with the decarbonization process, distinct from physical climate risk: fossil asset depreciation, regulatory changes, liability litigation.
The sharing of a single risk among several insurers on the same line, or the share of a loss left with the insured beyond the deductible.
A measure of a non-life insurer's technical profitability, comparing the sum of claims and expenses to earned premiums.
Spanish public body that indemnifies extraordinary risks, including natural catastrophes, through a mandatory surcharge.
Extension of a property damage policy treating a supplier's site as though it belonged to the insured, and therefore responding only where physical damage occurs at a named site.
Cover for the business interruption suffered by the insured as a result of a loss occurring not at its own premises but at a supplier or provider on which it depends.
The portion of a loss that remains with the insured before the insurer responds, an instrument of pricing and of moral hazard control.
A mandate by which an insurer entrusts a third party with the power to underwrite risks in its name, within defined limits, to gain agility and access niches.
Loss of value remaining after a damaged item has been restored, indemnified on top of the repair cost in fine art policies.
Insurance policy covering the personal liability of corporate officers and directors for alleged management failures, together with the corresponding defense costs.
The insured's duty to describe the risk accurately at underwriting and to report any aggravation, whose breach can reduce or void cover.
A contractual provision that removes certain risks, events or circumstances from the scope of cover.
Public or private policy/guarantee protecting an exporter or its bank against the risk of non-payment by a foreign buyer, whether of commercial origin (insolvency) or political origin (war, embargo, transfer risk).
An extension of the period during which claims can be reported after a claims-made contract expires, for events that predate it.
California residual insurance mechanism guaranteeing coverage to homeowners rejected by the private market, which has become the primary line of defense against wildfire risk in exposed areas.
A family of insurance lines covering the legal, financial and reputational risks of companies and their executives, including D&O, professional indemnity, crime and transaction liability.
British flood reinsurance scheme aimed at maintaining the insurability of the most exposed homes.
French public-private scheme established in 1982 enabling natural disaster damage to be covered via a compulsory surcharge backed by an unlimited state guarantee.
A risk that strikes a large number of insureds simultaneously and escapes risk pooling, as opposed to particular risk.
French co-reinsurance pool covering terrorism risks, backed by the State's unlimited guarantee through the CCR.
Claims that have already occurred but have not yet been reported to the insurer, which must be reserved by estimation.
The fundamental principle that the insurance indemnity cannot exceed the loss actually suffered, aiming to restore the policyholder to their prior position without enriching them.
A form of parametric insurance in which the trigger is conditioned on the value of a measurable index, such as accumulated rainfall or temperature, without examination of the individual loss.
Exclusion covering damage resulting from the instability or natural deterioration of the object itself, as opposed to an external accidental cause.
The legal condition requiring the policyholder to have an economic interest in the non-occurrence of the risk for the insurance contract to be valid.
The undue obtaining of an indemnity or cover through deception, a structural cost of the sector that generative AI turns into mass production.
A stacking of several insurers across successive layers of cover to reach an overall limit that none would carry alone.
A London market committee that designates marine war risk areas and revises cover guidance, sometimes weekly.
Cover protecting an organization against the financial loss caused by the unavailability of a person on whom a significant part of its value depends.
A product paying a guaranteed income until death, transferring to the insurer the longevity risk the individual cannot manage alone.
The ratio of incurred claims to earned premiums, measuring the pure cost of risk to the insurer.
Entity accredited by the Lloyd's Market Association responsible for managing one or more Lloyd's syndicates and authorizing underwriting on their behalf.
The activity of rescuing a ship and its cargo in peril, financed by insurance because it reduces the loss the insurer would otherwise pay.
US federal flood insurance program, structurally in deficit and undergoing a risk-based pricing reform.
German cover for natural hazard damage, long optional and at the center of the debate on mandatory insurance.
Principle of the marine salvage contract by which the salvor is paid only if it actually saves something, in proportion to the value saved.
A judicial award of extreme magnitude, generally above ten million dollars, that analysts consider disproportionate relative to comparable precedents.
A terrorism reinsurance mutual backed by the British state guarantee, created in 1993 after the IRA bombings in London.
An estimate of the largest loss a risk can reasonably suffer under adverse but plausible conditions.
Policy covering a professional's liability for damage caused to third parties in the course of their activity, in the event of error, omission or negligence.
The gap between the total economic losses caused by a risk and the share actually covered by insurance contracts.
A mechanism by which the public authority takes on the catastrophic share of a risk that the private market cannot absorb.
The risk of harm to the opinion third parties hold of a company, an intangible asset that insurance cannot indemnify directly.
In claims-made cover, the date from which triggering events are covered, earlier events being excluded.
The mechanism by which the premiums of a community of policyholders finance the losses of a few, the foundation of insurance technique.
Exposure to solar storm neither excluded nor affirmatively covered by property policies, on the silent-cyber model.
The underlying trend of rising judicial awards above the rate of economic inflation, driven by more generous juries, more aggressive lawyers and litigation financing.
A contract dedicated to a specific risk, separate from traditional policies, such as a stand-alone cyber policy.
A specific cap, lower than the overall limit, applying to a particular cover or type of loss.
The mechanism by which the insurer, having indemnified its insured, steps into their shoes to recover the amount from the third party responsible for the damage.
Technology for capturing driving data, by box or smartphone, which feeds behavioral pricing.
US act of 2002 establishing a federal backstop mechanism for terrorist losses exceeding the private insurance market's capacity.
The process by which an insurer assesses a risk, decides whether to accept or decline it, and sets its pricing and contractual terms.
Savings life insurance contracts where investment risk is borne by the policyholder, whose savings track underlying assets.
Life insurance contract combining death protection and a flexible savings component, with adjustable premiums and capital.
Insurance whose premium depends on actual observed usage or behavior, rather than on indirect category variables alone.
A principle imposing on the parties to an insurance contract a heightened transparency and loyalty, the foundation of the duty to disclose the risk.
Retirement savings product invested in market supports, with floor income or capital guarantees costly to hedge.
An initial period after a loss during which cover does not yet respond, the temporal equivalent of a deductible, common in business interruption.
Contractual clause excluding from insurance coverage losses directly or indirectly caused by war, civil war, rebellion or an act of hostility between sovereign powers.
An exclusion removing from cover damage resulting from acts of war, whose cyber versions have been debated since 2023.
An additional premium negotiated voyage by voyage for a vessel's passage through a war zone, revisable in near real time.
Contractual mechanism by which certain risks initially excluded from a policy are partially or fully reinstated into coverage through a specific clause or endorsement.
The loss threshold from which a reinsurance layer begins to respond.
Discipline quantifying the extent to which climate change increased the probability or intensity of a given extreme event.
Principle by which the conditions of a reinsurance treaty must faithfully mirror those of the underlying direct policies ceded, ensuring perfect coherence between the two levels of coverage.
Gap between the payout provided by a parametric or index-based ILS trigger and the sponsor's actual loss, arising because the measured index or parameter does not perfectly correlate with the loss.
Pension transfer instrument by which an insurer guarantees a scheme's annuities, as partial (buy-in) or full (buy-out) cover.
A pricing method based on the historical losses observed on a layer, related to a premium base.
French public reinsurer wholly owned by the State, providing an unlimited last-resort guarantee for catastrophic risks deemed uninsurable by the private market alone.
First regional catastrophe risk-sharing mechanism for Caribbean states, operating via parametric cat bonds backed by the World Bank since 2006.
A bond whose repayment of principal is conditioned on a predefined catastrophe not occurring.
Non-proportional reinsurance treaty that protects a cedant against the accumulation of losses from a single catastrophic event beyond a given retention.
Ceded losses to ceded premiums ratio, measuring treaty profitability from the reinsurer's perspective.
The portion of gross losses borne by reinsurers under the applicable treaties.
The portion of premiums transferred to reinsurers in return for their participation in losses.
Amounts the reinsurer pays back to the cedant in proportional reinsurance, to share costs and reward the quality of the portfolio ceded.
Cession is the transfer of risk from insurer to reinsurer; retrocession is its transfer from reinsurer to another reinsurer.
Proportion of gross premiums ceded to reinsurers, measuring the degree of risk transfer.
Reinsurance whose commitment is fully backed by posted collateral, often from capital-market investors, eliminating the reinsurer's credit risk.
A regulatory obligation on insurers to cede a set fraction of their treaties to a national, regional or continental reinsurer.
The systemic fragility arising when a small number of balance sheets, exposed to the same perils and bound by opaque commitments, carry the bulk of ceded risk.
Standardized geographical zoning system used by the reinsurance sector to monitor and report accumulations of natural catastrophe risk exposure.
Treaty reinsurance mechanism by which the reinsurer aligns with the exclusion conditions of the underlying direct policy, provided that policy complies with defined standards.
The pooling of uncorrelated risks allowing colossal commitments to be borne with modest capital, the vital resource of reinsurance.
Non-proportional reinsurance form where the reinsurer covers the portion of a loss exceeding the retention, up to the coverage limit.
A non-proportional treaty in which the reinsurer responds only beyond a loss threshold, the retention, up to a defined limit.
Security transferring to capital markets the risk of abrupt excess mortality, for example from a pandemic.
Two broad modes of reinsurance, one negotiated risk by risk, the other automatically covering a whole portfolio under a treaty.
Mode of reinsurance negotiated risk by risk, where the reinsurer accepts or declines each risk individually, used for exposures outside the obligatory treaty's appetite.
A clause obliging the reinsurer to follow the cedant's fortunes and to honor the settlements it has made in good faith, without re-examining each file.
An arrangement in which a locally licensed insurer issues a policy and then cedes most of it to a reinsurer or captive that lacks that license.
A reinsurance clause bounding in time what counts as a single loss, generally 72 or 168 hours depending on the peril.
Asset class of financial instruments transferring insurance risk to the capital markets, of which catastrophe bonds are the prime example, enabling institutional investors to access insurance risk returns outside the balance sheet of traditional reinsurers.
The character of liability lines whose claims settle years after underwriting, letting inflation compound over the whole period.
The risk that pension or annuity beneficiaries live longer than expected, one of the largest exposures in the world and the only one that resists securitization.
A contract by which a pension scheme exchanges its uncertain pension payments for fixed ones, transferring longevity risk.
A transaction by which a cedant transfers to a reinsurer a portfolio of losses that have already occurred, ceding the development risk and releasing capital.
Risk linked to the occurrence of illness, disability or incapacity more frequent or lasting than anticipated on health and protection cover.
Risk that an insurer suffers losses from more numerous or earlier deaths than anticipated on a life portfolio.
Loss ratio computed on net-of-reinsurance losses and premiums, reflecting the cedant's actual performance after risk transfer.
Gross losses less reinsurance recoveries, representing the actual loss burden borne by the cedant.
Gross premiums less ceded premiums, representing the premium income actually retained by the cedant.
Mechanism triggering payout when a measurable physical parameter crosses a predefined threshold, without assessment of actual damage.
The contrast between a trigger based on an objective parameter and one based on the actual loss suffered.
Number of premium years required to recover a full layer loss, the inverse of the rate on line.
Transactions by which a company transfers its defined-benefit pension obligations to an insurer.
Return by the reinsurer of a portion of its profit to the cedant when treaty loss experience is favorable.
Proportional reinsurance treaty where the reinsurer shares a fixed percentage of every premium and every loss.
A proportional treaty in which reinsurer and cedant share premiums and claims according to a fixed agreed percentage.
The ratio of a reinsurance layer's premium to its limit, measuring the relative price of the cover.
The ability, after a loss has consumed a reinsurance layer, to restore it on payment of a premium so as to remain covered for the rest of the period.
A subsidiary created by a group to insure or reinsure its own risks rather than transferring them entirely to the market.
Coverage tranche defined by a retention and a limit, above which losses are borne by the reinsurer.
Temporary securitization vehicle created by a reinsurer to raise external capital participating on a quota-share basis in a defined risk portfolio, without diluting its permanent shareholders.
The share of a risk that a cedant or insured keeps for its own account before any cession, the central trade-off between the cost of protection and capital tied up.
The circulation of a single risk retroceded in a loop within a closed circle of reinsurers, concentrating it instead of diluting it.
Reinsurance covering losses already incurred, aimed at transferring the volatility of prior-year reserves, the core of the run-off market.
The run-down management of an insurance portfolio closed to new business, until all its claims are settled.
Reinsurance that caps a cedant's overall annual loss experience, responding when the loss ratio exceeds an agreed threshold.
The gross premium base on which a non-proportional treaty premium is calculated by applying a rate.
Framework agreement by which a reinsurer commits to automatically covering a defined tranche of an insurer's entire portfolio of ceded risks, without risk-by-risk review.
The distinction between low layers frequently hit by attritional losses and high layers reserved for catastrophes.
Loss ratio predicted before observing claims, derived from pricing or market analysis, used as the anchor in the Bornhuetter-Ferguson method.
Variable costs directly linked to selling a policy: intermediary commissions, solicitation expenses and variable underwriting costs.
The principle that a policyholder's premium should reflect the risk they actually represent, without penalizing them beyond their own exposure.
The phenomenon whereby the historical loss distribution ceases to be representative of future losses because the underlying environment is shifting.
The sorting by which insureds who know themselves riskiest buy more, degrading a pool the insurer cannot tell apart.
The portion of LAE directly attributable to a specific claim: expert fees, legal costs and specific investigation expenses.
Actuarial technique restating historical claims as if they had occurred under current price and exposure conditions.
Synonym for severity: total cost divided by claim count, a key indicator for monitoring claims inflation.
Set of theoretical conditions defining the characteristics a risk must possess to be insurable by the private market, formalized by Baruch Berliner in 1982.
Actuarial assumptions on mortality, morbidity and behavior that underpin the pricing of life and health contracts.
Reserving method combining an a priori loss ratio with observed experience through a credibility mechanism, more stable than pure chain ladder for recent accident years.
Actuarial technique that caps large losses at a threshold to isolate their impact when analyzing attritional loss experience.
Probabilistic simulation tool estimating the potential losses of rare catastrophic events from simulated scenarios, combining a hazard module, an exposure module, a vulnerability module and a financial module.
Product of LDFs from a given development age to ultimate, used to estimate the final charge from current cumulative.
Actuarial reserving method that projects claims to their ultimate amount by applying historically observed development factors.
Number of claims relative to exposure, the first driver of pure premium alongside severity.
Rise in claims costs over time, driven by economic inflation and evolving judicial and medical practices.
An amount on an insurer's liabilities to cover the future cost of claims already occurred but not yet settled.
Prudential exercise assessing the resilience of an insurer's or bank's balance sheet to transition and physical climate shocks.
Probable maximum loss recalculated to incorporate the drift in peril frequency and intensity under climate change.
Risk measure satisfying Artzner's four axioms: monotonicity, translation invariance, sub-additivity and positive homogeneity.
A mathematical function modeling the dependence structure between several risks independently of their individual laws, a central and treacherous tool for accumulation.
An actuarial framework weighting a risk's own experience against a market reference according to the statistical reliability of the available data.
Set of actuarial and probabilistic methods aimed at expressing cyber risk exposure in financial terms, to guide pricing, reserving and coverage decisions.
Portion of written premiums corresponding to the coverage period already elapsed, the reference denominator for technical ratios.
The property of a peril whose occurrence depends on a decision by the insured or a third party, the opposite of the exogeneity pricing assumes.
Probability that a loss exceeds a given threshold over a one-year period, the central curve in catastrophe modeling.
Ratio of underwriting expenses to premiums, measuring the share of premium absorbed by operational and distribution costs.
Measure of the activity or area exposed to risk, the basis for calculating frequency and pure premium.
Pricing based on risk exposure and reference curves rather than on a risk's own history, useful for high layers and risks lacking sufficient track record.
A fairness strategy consisting of removing the protected variable from the model, universally judged the least effective as it does not prevent its reconstitution.
A distribution in which extreme events are far more likely than a normal law would predict.
The decomposition of risk into the number of losses and the average cost per loss, the foundation of pure premium pricing.
A family of statistical models generalizing linear regression, now the standard for non-life pricing and risk segmentation.
Pure premium loaded with expense, profit margin and cost of capital allowances, constituting the price paid by the policyholder.
Total cost of claims attributable to a period: payments made plus reserves for claims not yet settled.
Adjustment of a past value to current price levels by applying a reference index, to make historical data comparable.
The reconstitution of a protected variable's effect through lawful factors correlated with it, which machine learning renders undetectable.
Income generated by investing the assets backing reserves and equity capital of the insurer.
Shared socio-economic pathways used by the IPCC to project climate futures under different development assumptions.
A situation where the probability distribution itself is unknown, as opposed to calculable risk.
The principle that the average loss of a large portfolio of independent risks becomes predictable.
Ratio of cumulative losses at two successive development ages, the building block of the chain ladder method.
Distribution whose logarithm follows a normal law, widely used to model heavy-tailed losses and strictly positive amounts.
Investigation and management costs incurred to settle claims, distinct from the indemnity payment itself.
A table crossing accident years with the development of payments, the basis for projecting ultimate losses and for reserving.
Risk that underwriting, pricing or risk management decisions are based on models whose assumptions or calibration prove incorrect, generating systematic estimation errors.
A numerical method simulating a large number of random scenarios to estimate the distribution of a quantity when analytical calculation is impossible.
The tendency of an insured to change behavior and relax caution once covered.
Structural evolution of the decline in mortality rates over time, a key and uncertain parameter of longevity pricing.
The supposed offset between a mortality book and a longevity book within a single composite life insurer.
Reference climate scenarios from the central banks' network to assess climate-related financial risks.
Combined ratio less the investment-income ratio, measuring overall pre-tax profitability including investment return.
An internal assessment through which an insurer appraises its own risks and solvency needs beyond the regulatory formula.
Estimate of the highest loss an insurer or reinsurer is likely to sustain on a given risk or portfolio, under realistic but not absolutely worst-case adverse conditions.
The component of the insurance premium equal to the mathematical expectation of claims, before any loading for expenses and profit.
Average time between two occurrences of a given severity event, inverse of the annual exceedance probability.
Time period over which loss exceedance probability is evaluated, significantly altering results for rare risks.
Natural hazards of medium intensity but high frequency (severe convective storms, hail, localized floods) that now represent the majority of global insured losses.
Average claim cost, the second driver of pure premium alongside frequency, particularly sensitive to inflation.
The regulatory capital an insurer must hold under Solvency II to absorb a once-in-200-years shock.
An insurer's own model, approved by the supervisor, used to calculate its solvency capital instead of the standard formula.
Regulatory method for calculating the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) provided by EIOPA, based on a modular aggregation of risks via correlation matrices.
Phenomenon by which risks that appear uncorrelated in normal conditions see their correlation converge toward one during extreme events, eliminating the diversification benefit precisely when most needed.
The degradation of a shared resource from which each user draws private benefit while imposing on others a cost no one internalizes.
Annual rate of change in claim frequency or severity, used to project past data towards the future.
The risk of a systematic and unforeseen improvement in longevity striking all annuitants at once, non-diversifiable, the demographic equivalent of catastrophe.
Estimated total loss amount for an accident year once all development is complete, including IBNR and residual reserves.
Claims department costs not chargeable to an individual file: handler salaries, premises, IT systems.
Insufficient estimate of the amounts an insurer will have to pay for events already occurred, which blinds it to its own position and precedes most failures.
Two risk measures, one giving a loss threshold rarely exceeded, the other the average loss beyond that threshold.
The shared ignorance of the future on which risk pooling rests, and which behavioral data tends to lift.
Total premiums invoiced to the policyholder at inception, regardless of the associated coverage period.
Inputs specially crafted to fool a machine-learning model into producing an incorrect output, while being indistinguishable from normal inputs to a human.
Theoretical framework analyzing conflicts of interest between a principal and their agent, and the resulting economic costs when their objectives diverge.
An AI system able to plan and execute autonomous sequences of actions to achieve a goal, beyond mere generation.
Principle requiring designers and users of algorithms to justify and answer for the automated decisions made.
A systematic error of an AI system that produces results unfairly unfavorable to certain groups, often arising from biased training data.
A system whose outputs are observable but whose internal path remains unexplainable, even to its designers.
Unfavorable and unjustified treatment of individuals by an automated system, on the basis of protected characteristics, directly or through proxy variables.
A model's production of false information presented confidently, with no error signal.
A non-human cognitive factor of production, billed by usage, substituting for human labor within the firm.
Concentration of usage around a single foundation model, creating a single point of failure and correlated errors.
2003 theoretical framework explaining labor market polarization through the substitutability of routine tasks and the complementarity of non-routine cognitive tasks with technology.
The human tendency to place excessive trust in the outputs of an automated system, to the point of ceasing to check them, which amplifies the AI's errors.
Artificial intelligence system that does not merely produce a textual output but performs acts in the world, calling tools, writing into systems and triggering operations without an operator reviewing each decision.
Accounting distinction between capital expenditure (CAPEX) generating assets amortized over several years and operating expenditure (OPEX) consumed immediately, with the shift from IT CAPEX to AI OPEX constituting a major strategic inflection.
A microeconomic measure of the cost of producing one additional unit of intellectual work, whether human or algorithmic, at the heart of the make-or-buy arbitrage in the AI-augmented firm.
The set of practices governing the quality, representativeness and traceability of the data used to train and operate an AI system.
An attack that deliberately corrupts a model's training data to bias its behavior or to insert a backdoor.
Computational representation of a physical installation, fed continuously by measurements taken from it and holding a feedback loop by which its outputs influence operations.
Artificial intelligence acting in the physical world through robots or machines, creating a direct bodily and property damage risk.
New, unforeseen behaviors appearing in a model beyond a certain scale threshold.
The ability to make an AI model's decisions understandable, an issue of trust, regulatory compliance and liability.
Training paradigm in which a model is improved on distributed data without the data ever leaving its source, preserving data confidentiality.
The adaptation of an already pre-trained model to a specific task or domain through additional training on targeted data.
Ultra-rapid market collapse and rebound caused by correlated trading algorithms, the most celebrated being the 6 May 2010 event on US markets.
A large AI model pre-trained on massive data, designed to be adapted to many downstream tasks, the source of a common dependence at the scale of the economy.
Devices limiting an AI system's undesirable behaviors, whose effectiveness remains imperfect against attempts to circumvent them.
The principle of maintaining human oversight or validation within an automated decision, whose real value depends on the quality of the control exercised.
An obligation, set by the AI Act, to maintain effective human control over a high-risk AI system in order to prevent or correct its failures.
A technique of crafting prompts designed to bypass an AI model's safeguards and make it produce content that is normally prohibited.
A deep-learning model trained on vast text corpora to predict and generate language.
Legal question of attributing damage caused by false information confidently produced by a generative AI.
Techniques allowing a model to unlearn specific data without complete retraining, but without guarantee of a total or verifiable forgetting.
Attack against a machine-learning model aimed at determining whether a specific record was used during training, thereby revealing sensitive personal data.
The gradual degradation of a model's performance as reality diverges from the data on which it was trained.
Attack against a machine-learning model that reconstructs representative inputs from training data using the model's outputs, enabling the recovery of private or confidential information.
Architectures in which several autonomous AI agents collaborate to accomplish a complex task, specializing and passing information or instructions to one another.
An external data source whose measurement is authoritative for triggering a parametric payout, and whose reliability constitutes a critical dependency risk for the contract.
The principle that we always know more than we can tell, which historically grounded the limit of automating complex cognitive tasks.
The reproduction of a protected variable's effect by a model that reconstructs it from its correlates, with no intent to discriminate.
An iterative cognitive architecture alternating reasoning, action and observation, the basis of many AI agents.
An architecture combining a language model with document retrieval to ground its answers in sources, reducing hallucinations but opening a new attack surface.
Algorithmically generated data that reproduces the statistical properties of real data without containing information on existing individuals, used to train models or test systems.
Situation where a technology infrastructure provider acquires asymmetric bargaining power over a company that has become captive after heavily investing in non-transferable specific assets.
Theoretical ideal-type of an organization where a single director deploys a fleet of algorithmic agents to replace the entire workforce, decoupling growth from headcount.
Proposed EU directive on AI civil liability, withdrawn in 2025, that aimed to ease the burden of proof for victims.
A contract whose performance depends on an uncertain event, the very nature of insurance that a prevention service turns into an obligation.
France's national cybersecurity authority, responsible for protecting government information systems and critical private-sector operators.
International banking prudential standard-setter, whose standards indirectly influence insurance and reinsurance.
Financial regulator of Bermuda, a major hub for reinsurance and alternative risk-transfer structures.
Information derived from measuring physical or behavioral characteristics allowing a person to be identified, whose decisive property for insurance is irrevocability.
Legal presumption, of American origin but now recognized in many systems, that business decisions made by directors in good faith, on an informed basis and free of conflicts of interest, are presumed to satisfy their duty of care.
The principle concentrating on the nuclear operator the whole liability for an accident, to the exclusion of the industrial chain's suppliers.
Procedure required by the EU AI Act to verify that a high-risk system meets its requirements before market placement.
Contractual clause excluding from coverage losses caused by cyberattacks attributed to states or state-sponsored actors, whose drafting and application raise major legal difficulties.
The GDPR obligation to report a data breach to the supervisory authority within seventy-two hours, and to affected individuals where the risk is high.
An intermediary that aggregates, enriches and resells personal and behavioral data, often unbeknown to the persons concerned.
The principle of collecting and keeping only the data strictly necessary, and the best answer to the impossibility of erasing.
A defense letting the manufacturer escape liability if the state of knowledge did not allow the defect to be detected when placed on the market.
The requirement of a physical alteration of the property to trigger property cover, opposed to perils that degrade use without altering matter.
A discriminatory effect measured on a model's outputs, independent of any intent and of the data's apparent neutrality.
The European regulation imposing digital operational resilience requirements on financial entities, including toward their providers.
Sharing of liability between the provider of an AI system and the professional who deploys it in a concrete use.
The insurance intermediary's duty of care, which presupposes an author of the reasoning whose competence can be assessed.
The European Union's dedicated cybersecurity agency, which publishes technical frameworks and guidance for national authorities and regulated entities.
Environmental, social and governance criteria, whose place in underwriting depends on their predictive materiality rather than their moral reach.
Two categories of regulated parties created by the NIS2 Directive, subject to the same baseline security obligations but to different supervisory regimes according to their criticality.
The European regulation governing AI through a risk-tiered approach, imposing enhanced obligations on high-risk systems.
European supervisory authority for insurance and occupational pensions, harmonizing practices across the Union.
The obligation imposed on members of the management body to approve, oversee and receive training on cybersecurity measures, on pain of engaging their personal liability.
A clause conditioning the intentional-conduct exclusion on a final decision, preserving the advance of defense costs until every appeal is exhausted.
British conduct regulator for financial firms, distinct from the prudential supervisor PRA.
International body coordinating global financial regulation and the monitoring of systemic risks within the G20.
An unforeseeable, irresistible and external event that releases a debtor from contractual liability, a notion debated for cyberattacks.
French prudential supervision authority for banks and insurers, attached to the Banque de France.
Basel reform of the prudential treatment of market risk, relevant to conglomerates and insurers' asset management.
Assessment required by the AI Act of certain deployers of high-risk systems, covering effects on people's rights.
The European regulation governing personal data processing, with fines of up to 4 percent of worldwide turnover.
German federal financial services supervisory authority, competent for banking, insurance and markets.
Status designating insurance groups whose failure could threaten global financial stability, subject to enhanced oversight.
The inverse of greenwashing, by which a company keeps silent about its sustainability commitments to avoid litigation and criticism.
Misleading overstatement of a company's sustainability efforts, become a major ground for litigation and directors' liability claims.
The central category of the AI Act, gathering the AI systems subject to binding obligations because of their potential impact on people's safety or rights.
International capital standard developed by the IAIS for internationally active insurance groups.
Global body bringing together insurance supervisors to develop international prudential standards.
Two leading cybersecurity frameworks: ISO 27001, a certifiable standard for information security management, and the NIST CSF, a non-certifying American framework for structuring a cyber posture.
The shipowner's ability to cap its debt on the vessel's gross tonnage, which paradoxically shelters the small craft ideal for cutting a cable.
Assumption by a third-party investor of the cost and risk of legal proceedings, in exchange for a share of the proceeds, which lifts the rationing limiting the passage from grievance to claim.
French law jointly transposing the NIS2 Directive, the CER Directive on critical entity resilience and certain components of DORA, expected in 2026.
Central bank and integrated financial regulator of Singapore, an insurance and reinsurance hub in Asia.
Concealment of the illicit origin of funds by reinjecting them into the legal economy; the art market is particularly exposed.
Coordinating body of US state insurance regulators, harmonizing standards in a market supervised at state level.
Signal describing nervous system activity, produced continuously by a brain-computer interface, irrevocable like biometrics and inferential in addition.
A European directive strengthening the cybersecurity obligations of a broad range of essential and important entities.
US regulatory framework imposing strict liability for any ransom payment benefiting a sanctioned actor, applicable to cyber insurers and their intermediaries.
The customer identification step at the opening of the relationship, whose failure engages the regulated firm's regulatory liability.
Obligation to monitor an AI system's behavior after market placement to detect and correct emerging risks.
A de facto reversal of the burden of proof introduced by the 2024 directive, triggered notably by the product's technical complexity.
A regime holding the producer liable for damage caused by a defective product, extended in 2024 to software and AI systems.
Rule of construction identifying, in a chain of events, the decisive cause of the loss to decide whether an excluded or covered peril governs the indemnity.
Overhaul of the EU product liability regime, explicitly extended to software and AI systems.
GDPR provision framing decisions producing legal effects based solely on automated processing.
The right, enshrined in Article 17 of the GDPR, to obtain the deletion of one's personal data, tested by the absorption of data into AI models.
A clause withdrawing cover where its performance would contravene an applicable sanctions regime, without anyone being able to determine this at the moment of loss.
US legal procedure allowing a group of investors who suffered stock market losses to collectively sue a company and its officers for misrepresentation or omission of material information.
The European prudential supervisory framework for insurers and reinsurers, built on a risk-based approach and structured around three pillars.
The legal protection shielding a state from prosecution before the courts, rendering the insurer's recourse illusory after indemnity.
The level of prudence and care expected of an actor, the violation of which characterizes the fault or defect grounding liability.
A liability regime in which the victim need not prove fault, but only the harm, the defect and the causal link between the two.
Modification of machinery, physical or digital, that creates a new hazard or increases an existing risk, thereby transferring manufacturer status to whoever performs it.
A 2011 Court of Justice ruling imposing unisex pricing, holding that a true correlation does not suffice to price a protected characteristic.
Risk that an asset may be claimed by a third party on the ground that its holder never validly acquired ownership, central to artworks.
Independent arbitrator jointly appointed by the parties to resolve a dispute, notably on the attribution of a cyber operation to a state in the LMA 5567 Hamilton variant.
A regime holding a person liable for damage caused by another placed under their authority, a question renewed by AI agents.
1998 international framework on the restitution of Nazi-confiscated artworks, the foundation of modern provenance litigation.
A set of techniques transferring risk outside the traditional insurance and reinsurance circuit.
Management aimed at aligning the interest-rate sensitivity of an insurer's assets and liabilities to limit interest-rate risk.
Constant annual growth rate that, applied under compound interest, transforms an initial value into a final value over n years.
An economic principle stating that the boundaries of the firm, what it produces in-house versus what it buys from the market, are determined by comparing transaction costs.
Mechanism by which interest accumulates on both the initial capital and previously earned interest, producing exponential growth.
IFRS 17 component representing the unearned future profit of a group of contracts, released to profit as service is provided.
Financial technique that converts future cash flows to their equivalent present value, by dividing by a compounding factor.
Annual interest rate that, applied once a year, produces the same yield as a nominal rate compounded more frequently.
Measure of the economic value of a life insurance portfolio, the sum of net assets and the value of in-force business.
Periodic rate that, compounded over the reference period, gives exactly the same effective annual rate as a reference annual rate.
The character of a factor that genuinely affects financial performance or risk, as opposed to a mere moral preference.
Attack technique specific to decentralized finance that exploits an uncollateralized loan repaid within the same transaction to manipulate prices or drain protocols of billions of dollars.
The mass of premiums collected but not yet paid out in claims, which the insurer invests for its own account, a key source of profit in the insurance model.
An actor who benefits from a collective decision without bearing its cost; in insurance, the less scrupulous carrier who picks up a risk excluded by a responsible peer.
IFRS 17 reference model measuring contracts from discounted cash flows, a risk adjustment and a contractual service margin.
International accounting standard on insurance contracts, effective since 2023, overhauling the measurement of liabilities and profit.
Accounting standard on financial instruments, applied jointly with IFRS 17 for insurers' assets.
Risk-transfer instrument triggered by the loss level of the whole industry rather than by the buyer's own loss.
Immaterial assets, brands, data, know-how, reputation, which form the bulk of the value of modern companies and resist insurance.
Income generated by an insurer's asset portfolio, a major component of its result alongside the technical result.
The final character of a transaction confirmed on a chain, depriving the insurer of any recovery and making the loss always total.
A security transferring longevity risk to the capital markets, of which no issuance has ever succeeded despite several attempts.
Stated interest rate without accounting for compounding frequency or inflation.
Collectible assets held both for enjoyment and as a wealth strategy: art, watches, classic cars, wine, whisky, jewelry or luxury handbags.
Simplified IFRS 17 model reserved for short-duration contracts, close to traditional earned-premium accounting.
IFRS 17 component reflecting the compensation the insurer requires for uncertainty in the amount and timing of non-financial cash flows.
The transformation of a portfolio of assets or risks into tradable securities sold to investors.
The individual's holding of their own cryptographic keys, with no custodian, a founding trait of crypto that renders it uninsurable.
A computer program inscribed on a blockchain whose conditional logic automatically executes payments or transfers as soon as a predefined condition is met, without human intervention.
A listed shell company created for the sole purpose of identifying and merging with a target business, enabling the target to access capital markets without going through a traditional IPO.
A separate legal entity created for a precise, isolated purpose, ring-fencing assets and risks, the cornerstone of securitization transactions and cat bonds.
The period, in a sale agreement, during which the seller remains liable for its representations and warranties.
The practice by which a third-party investor funds the costs of legal proceedings in exchange for a share of any damages obtained in the event of success.
The fractionation of a reinsurance contract into tradable tokens, making an illiquid asset liquid without changing the nature of the risk.
Arrangement in which a group pools funds and the share of each member who dies is redistributed to the survivors, whose income rises accordingly.
Economic value created by contracts written during a period, a key indicator of a life insurer's commercial performance.
IFRS 17 variant for direct participating contracts, where the insurer's fee depends on the performance of underlying items.
Pan-African mutual offering states sovereign parametric insurance against drought and other disasters.
Technologies and research aimed at extending healthy lifespan, liable to upend insurers' longevity assumptions.
An intermediary representing the client to place its risk with insurers, negotiate terms and advise it, a central player in large risks and reinsurance.
Agricultural cover paying an indemnity based on a measurable climate index, such as rainfall, rather than on assessed loss.
The risk attached to a sovereign state's decisions affecting an investment, expropriation, inconvertibility, breach of contract.
A security transferring systemic cyber risk to the capital markets, whose structuring runs into the absence of a stationary model and of uncorrelatedness.
A remediation program launched by Lloyd's in 2018 that forced loss-making syndicates to submit recovery plans or to exit unprofitable lines, triggering the hard market in financial lines.
Selling cover at the precise moment the need arises, inserted within another purchase journey rather than through an insurance brand.
Former Mexican natural disaster fund, a pioneer of sovereign risk transfer through catastrophe bonds.
The two opposing phases of the underwriting cycle: the hard market, characterized by high premiums and reduced capacity, and the soft market, where competition compresses premiums and loosens terms.
The trigger of an insurance-linked security based on the losses actually paid by the sponsor, as opposed to an index or objective parameter.
Insurance regulatory and development authority of India, a high-growth and under-penetrated market.
A generation of companies promising to transform insurance through technology, whose model has shifted from disruption toward infrastructure.
Organization harmonizing insurance law and regulation across fourteen French-speaking African countries.
The historic marketplace for specialty insurance and reinsurance, organized into syndicates that carry the risks.
Intermediary holding underwriting authority who selects, prices and manages risks on behalf of carrier insurers.
The maximum volume of risk the insurance and reinsurance market is willing to bear at a given moment.
Low-premium insurance products designed for low-income populations often excluded from traditional insurance.
Distribution and management of insurance via mobile networks, a major inclusion lever in emerging markets.
Regional scheme offering Pacific island states parametric insurance against cyclones and earthquakes.
The tendency of listed capital to flood in during favorable periods and withdraw at the first alarm, amplifying cycles instead of dampening them.
The periodic negotiation in which cedants and reinsurers renew and adjust their treaties, a genuine annual barometer of the market cycle.
Sharia-compliant equivalent of reinsurance, allowing takaful operators to cede part of their risks.
Mechanism by which several underwriters each take a fraction of the same risk, making bearable an exposure none could carry alone.
Insurance model compliant with Islamic finance principles, based on mutual pooling and risk sharing.
Mandatory earthquake insurance pool in Turkey, created after the 1999 quake to pool residential seismic risk.
The alternation between phases of high prices and scarce capacity, the hard market, and low prices and abundant capacity, the soft market.
Remuneration structures of the takaful operator, by management fee (wakala) or sharing of investment profits (mudaraba).
Cover indemnifying the loss of margin from delayed commissioning of a project caused by insured damage during construction.
Branch covering aircraft hull and liability toward passengers and third parties, governed by the Montreal and Warsaw international conventions.
The offline holding of cryptographic keys, a condition of insurability for a cryptoasset in institutional custody.
Family of policies covering risks specific to construction and erection phases, as well as ten-year builder's warranty and property damage cover.
Cover for an identified, quantified legal risk, such as the adverse outcome of a known dispute, often in a transactional context.
Policy covering damage to works under construction throughout the project, on an all-risks-except-exclusions basis.
Cover for financial losses caused by fraud, theft or embezzlement committed by employees or third parties.
Political risk that an investor cannot convert a local currency or repatriate funds due to state restrictions.
Cover for employment practices disputes: discrimination, harassment, wrongful dismissal.
Cover for damage occurring during the installation and testing of industrial equipment and machinery.
Policy covering financial losses from event cancellation, postponement or abandonment, whose communicable disease exclusions were redefined after Covid-19.
Act by which a state deprives a foreign investor of all or part of its assets, by direct measure or by a series of indirect measures rendering the investment economically worthless, constituting the central risk of investment insurance.
Cover for the liability of pension and benefit plan managers for breach of their duties.
Specialized cover for artworks and collections, with specific valuation, provenance and transit challenges.
Secured warehouse with a suspensive tax status where artworks and valuables are stored, concentrating a major accumulation risk for insurers.
A disturbance of the Earth's magnetic field caused by a coronal mass ejection, able to induce destructive currents in large power grids.
A class of anti-diabetes and anti-obesity molecules whose mass uptake can shift a country's mortality and upend longevity assumptions.
Insurance for damage to the ship itself, its hull and machinery, distinct from the liability covered by P&I clubs.
A chain reaction in which an orbital collision generates debris that causes new collisions, rendering certain orbits unusable.
Cover whose value depends on its secrecy, reimbursing a ransom paid and above all giving immediate access to a professional crisis-response team.
Policy covering costs related to kidnap, extortion or detention, including ransom payment and crisis management expert assistance.
Insurance of goods during maritime, land or air transport against loss and damage.
Branch covering ships (hull) and transported goods (cargo), governed by the York-Antwerp rules and the Institute of London Underwriters clauses.
Cover protecting ships and cargo against war, piracy and seizure perils, excluded from standard marine policies.
Transit cover for a precious object that runs without interruption from the moment it is taken down to the moment it is reinstalled, packing and transit included.
Derogatory insurance regime organized around national pools and unlimited operator liability, governed by the Paris Convention and the Brussels Protocol.
Cover for offshore oil and gas installations, including blowout, pollution and production-loss risks.
Inactive artificial objects in orbit, most of which, too small to be tracked, remain invisible yet lethal to satellites.
Shipowner mutuals covering marine third-party liability: third-party damage, pollution, crew, cargo.
Insurance product where indemnification is triggered automatically by a measurable threshold (wind speed, rainfall, earthquake magnitude), without loss adjustment.
Risk of financial losses resulting from the physical effects of climate change, whether acute events (catastrophes) or chronic trends (sea-level rise, droughts).
Cover for losses caused by acts of a foreign government, including expropriation, currency inconvertibility and political violence, primarily in emerging markets.
Policy allowing an organizer to offer a high-value prize by transferring the risk of its payment to an insurer if the prize is actually won.
Policy covering losses from the inaccuracy of representations and warranties given in a company acquisition.
Cover for autonomous vehicles, shifting liability from the driver toward the manufacturer and the driving-system developer.
Cover extending the claims reporting period after a claims-made policy expires, notably after a sale.
Catastrophic event of moderate to high frequency, distinct from major primary perils (major hurricane, major earthquake), whose accumulation produces increasingly significant annual losses.
A set of ships with opaque ownership structures and flags of convenience, used to circumvent sanctions and responsibilities.
Classic split of a directors and officers policy by whether the indemnity protects the director, the company or its securities.
A low-power nuclear reactor designed for deployment in numbers and close to consumers, under a minimal liability cap.
A specialized line covering the launch and operation of satellites, whose lock is not the danger but the impossibility of modeling it.
Class of the London market covering very high unit-value property, including fine art, precious metals, cash, jewelry and collectibles.
Standalone cover for damage caused by terrorism, riots, civil unrest and acts of war, outside the standard market.
Tripartite undertaking by which a surety binds itself to a beneficiary in case of default by a principal debtor.
Policy covering the risk that an identified tax position is challenged by the authorities, common in M&A deals.
Chain reaction in a lithium-ion cell producing its own heat and its own oxygen through decomposition of the internal materials, propagating from cell to cell for as long as stored energy remains to be released.
Cover protecting companies against buyer insolvency, and performance bonds for project owners.
Family of covers designed to transfer risks identified in a merger or acquisition and facilitate closing.
Distinction between insurance of hydrocarbon exploration-production and that of refining, processing and distribution.
Cover for the costs of regaining control of a blown-out oil or gas well, plus pollution and redrilling.
Criterion assessing whether a climate financing or action produces a real effect that would not have occurred without it.
Cover for sustainable marine activities and ecosystems, from marine energy to reef restoration and aquaculture.
Gap between the needs for adaptation to climate change and the resources actually mobilized to meet them.
Measure of the potential financial impact of physical and transition risks on the value of an asset or portfolio.
Commitment by an insurer or investor to stop covering or financing certain fossil activities based on defined thresholds.
Principle that a company must disclose both the impact of sustainability on its value and its own impact on the environment and society.
Assessment of an entity's environmental, social and governance performance by a specialized agency, marked by low correlation across providers.
Valuation gap favoring transition-aligned assets and penalizing carbon-intensive assets, observed on financial markets.
Principle that the low-carbon transition must distribute its costs fairly and protect vulnerable populations and workers.
International financial mechanism intended to help vulnerable countries cope with irreversible climate damage.
Measures relying on ecosystems to reduce climate risks, such as restoring mangroves or wetlands.
Coalition of institutional investors, including major life insurers, committed to decarbonizing their investment portfolios by 2050.
Coalition of insurers and reinsurers committed to net zero underwriting portfolios, sharply reduced after antitrust pressure in 2023.
Voluntary framework launched by UNEP in 2012 to embed environmental, social and governance issues into insurance business.
Body that validates corporate emission reduction targets against the trajectories of the Paris Agreement.
Classification of greenhouse gas emissions by direct, energy-related or indirect value-chain origin.
Urban planning approach designed to absorb, store and reuse rainwater to reduce flood risk.
Assets suffering unanticipated write-downs or conversion to liabilities due to the low-carbon transition, notably in fossil fuels.
Embedding environmental, social and climate criteria into pricing, acceptance and exclusion decisions in underwriting.
Reporting framework for corporate dependencies and impacts on nature and biodiversity, modeled on the climate-focused TCFD.
Initiative assessing companies' alignment with low-carbon trajectories for the use of investors.
Assessment of the substantive and achievable character of a decarbonization trajectory announced by a company or insured.
Durable insufficiency of water resources, destroying economic value without damaging any asset and failing the four conditions an insurance contract requires of a peril.
Measure of the imbalance between water demand and availability in a territory, mapped notably by the WRI Aqueduct tool.
Battery installation providing energy storage and discharge to stabilize supply and support critical loads.
Electrical generation installed on the consumer side of the meter, powering a site directly without transiting the public grid.
A vessel specialized in laying and repairing submarine cables, whose global scarcity governs the true duration of any cut.
Metric relating a data center's CO2 emissions to the energy used by its IT equipment.
Model where an operator leases space, power and cooling to multiple clients within a single data center.
Installed but unused optical fiber capacity, reserved for future use or leased to a third-party operator.
Ability to cover a data center's risk, conditioned by its resilience, density, cooling and climate exposure.
Small data center located close to users to reduce latency, as opposed to large centralized sites.
Technique using outdoor air or naturally cold water to cool a data center without mechanical refrigeration.
Interconnected set of pooled graphics processors running intensive compute workloads, notably for artificial intelligence.
Operator of very large-scale data centers, typically a major cloud provider running massive compute capacity.
Technique of submerging servers in a non-conductive dielectric fluid to dissipate heat.
Technique of removing server heat by circulating a coolant fluid close to the components.
Local electrical grid able to operate autonomously from the main grid, combining generation, storage and consumption.
Energy efficiency metric for a data center, the ratio of total energy consumed to energy used by IT equipment.
Electrical and thermal power concentrated in a single server rack, rising sharply with artificial intelligence workloads.
Modeling variables measuring the market share of major IT providers in a cedant's portfolio, used to quantify implicit concentration on technological single points of failure.
Distinction between the intensive learning phase of an AI model and the operating phase producing responses.
System classifying data centers by their level of redundancy and availability, from Tier I to Tier IV.
Metric measuring a data center's water consumption relative to the IT energy delivered.
Cover for satellite failures during its operational life in orbit, after the launch phase.
Cover for the risk of destruction or failure of a satellite during the critical launch phase.
International treaty specifying the liability regime of states for damage caused by their space objects.
Emerging cover for missions to the Moon and deep space, with very high technical uncertainty and little loss history.
Risks linked to deploying constellations of thousands of satellites, including orbital congestion and systemic collision risk.
Transformation of the space sector driven by private actors and falling launch costs, reshaping the insured risk profile.
Founding treaty of space law, setting the principles of non-appropriation and state responsibility for space activities.
Liability of a space operator for damage caused to third parties, on the ground or in orbit, by its space object.