(1) a company that receives the premiums and accepts responsibility for the fulfillment of the policy contract; (2) the company employee who decides whether or not the company should assume a particular risk; (3) the agent who sells the policy.
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UK: (1) an insurer, anyone who accepts an insurance risk (from the act of writing one’s name under the details of the risk set out in the policy); (2) an individual who, on behalf of an insurer, determines the acceptability of an insurance or reinsurance risk and specifies the terms on which the risk can be accepted; (3) in the Lloyd’s market, an active underwriter is the person who runs a syndicate and accepts risks on behalf of the members of the syndicate.
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(i) The term originated from the practice of merchants of those days who undertook the risks of insurance by subscribing their names and the proportions for which they were responsible underneath and writing the policy of the insurance. They were the insurers and so today, their successors, the members of Lloyd’s who subscribe the policies are known as underwriters. This is the most widely understood use of the term. (ii) The establishment of Companies, whether corporate bodies or cooperatives or mutual or Government Companies meant that a company undertook the risk bearing and the indemnification of the insured. In a very real sense, therefore, every insurance company is an Underwriter. (iii) Every insurance company has one or many insurance executives responsible for deciding whether risk proposed shall be accepted and, if so, on what terms. Such officials are usually termed “underwriters,” inside the company, e.g., the Health Manager, Fire Underwriter, Marine Underwriter and the like.
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US, MEDICAL: 1. Individual who works for an insurance company and performs the service of underwriting. 2. Individual or organization (insurance company) that guarantees availability of funds to pay for losses that are covered under an insurance contract.
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A title given to a person trained to assess risks and establish rates and coverage amounts for them. The name is derived from the Lloyd’s process wherein each individual who agrees to insure a fraction of the risk writes his or her name under the risk.
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UK: Term originated in Lloyd’s coffee house when merchants signed their names at the foot of a slip to signify acceptance of a part of a maritime risk. The term is used to refer to an insurer or an individual skilled in the process of selecting risks for an insurance company or Lloyd’s syndicate. See ACTIVE UNDERWRITER.
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US: Any individual in insurance who has the responsibility of making decisions regarding the acceptability of a particular submission and of determining the amount, price, and conditions under which the submission is acceptable.
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Depending on the context this term may refer to: (a) the individual who is responsible for underwriting a particular insurance or reinsurance contract and who is either an employee of a managing agent, an insurance company or reinsurance company or an employee of a coverholder or any similar underwriting agent. (b) an individual member or company that insures or reinsures a risk.
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One who researches and then accepts, rejects, or limits prospective risks for an insurance company. The underwriter reviews and accepts or rejects applications as well as determining when a policy will be nonrenewed or cancelled.