Reinsurance accepted by a second reinsurer in a Surplus Treaty. It is that amount which exceeds the total of the original insurer’s net retention and the full limit of the first surplus treaty.

A clause in U.S. reinsurance contracts, typically utilized for non-U.S. reinsurers, whereby the reinsurer agrees to submit to any court of competent jurisdiction in the United States, which provides a legal basis for the enforcement of arbitration awards. The clause names a U.S. agent to accept service of process on behalf of the reinsurer for purposes of the ceding company gaining U.S. jurisdiction against the reinsurer. It is not intended to supersede the contracting parties’ obligation to arbitrate disputes, but to provide a mechanism to enforce awards.

The reduction of the amount owed by one party to a second party under one agreement or transaction by crediting the first party with amount the second party owes the first party under other agreements or transactions for the purpose of determining the amount, if any, the first party owes to the second.
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See: Offset.

A clause in some reinsurance agreements providing that, should any part of the agreement be found illegal or otherwise unenforceable, the remainder of the agreement will continue in force while the illegal part will be severed from the agreement, or in some cases, modified to remove the illegality. Severability may apply to the entire agreement or be limited to a specific provision that may present enforceability issues. For example, in jurisdictions where punitive damages are uninsurable, a severability clause in an Extra Contractual Obligations provision (or as a separate clause) will preserve the overall enforceability of the provision, even though a portion of the ECO provision has been invalidated.