An item in the balance sheet of an insurance company which represent a setting aside of assets to compensate for a possible reduction in the market value of securities owned by the Company.
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UK: colloquial term that broadly describes the excess of the admissible value (essentially the market value) of an insurer’s assets over its recognised liabilities to policyholders, shareholders and others; before 1995 it often appeared explicitly in the insurer’s accounts, but in the periodical return means the valuation difference shown in Form 14 Line 51 in a case where assets are given a book value below their market value.
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The assets an insurance company has put aside to compensate for a reduction in the value of the securities the company owns.