The process by which a company decides how its premium rates for life insurance should differ according to the risk characteristics of individuals insured (e.g., age, occupation, sex, state of health) and then applies the resulting rules to individual applications. (See: Underwriting)
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UK: Underwriters combine individual risks into groups or ‘classes. This facilitates the underwriting process and enables individual proposals to be considered in the light of the class to which they belong. Some classes, e.g. total abstainers, mature applicants, may receive preferential treatment while others may belong to an excluded class, e.g. a motor insurer might exclude jockeys or others with a high exposure.