Our reinsurance contracts are drafted by the senior broker responsible for the account to make certain that the terms and conditions reflect each party’s understanding and intent. We focus significant effort on preparing contracts which, once agreed to by the client, can be included in the initial underwriting information submitted to reinsurers. Our goal is to provide our clients with the highest level of contract certainty that the reinsurance placement process will allow. Our staff monitors regulatory, legislative and judicial developments as well as industry trends to make certain our contracts reflect the most current terms and conditions.
The accounting staff at Atlantic ensures accurate, timely reporting that reflects contract terms. We are responsible for maintaining accounting ledgers, managing cash receipts and payments and adjusting premiums and commissions. Strict performance standards are in place to make certain all accounting functions are performed in a timely and transparent manner, and that records are maintained for any future need. We encourage regular interaction between our accounting staff and their counterparts at our clients and reinsurers so that communication flows easily and any issues can be resolved quickly.
Atlantic’s claims strategy focuses first on evaluating, presenting and collecting our clients’ reinsurance claims with the urgency required to exceed any contractual stipulations. We also focus on providing judicious and innovative solutions to claims-related issues. Our staff is experienced in claims negotiation, dispute resolution, letters of credit and cash management.
The Actuarial Department serves multiple functions at Atlantic. Before approaching the market with an opportunity, our Actuarial Department will have analyzed and projected the results in a manner that allows our brokers to structure and price reinsurance options. We then use that information to position the opportunity so that the reinsurer’s actuaries can easily analyze the data and come to the same conclusions. If the conclusions differ significantly, our actuary engages the reinsurer’s actuary to discuss assumptions used and whether there are other issues causing the different results. This understanding of the reinsurer’s approach allows our brokers to tailor their placement strategy.
Our Actuarial Department is also involved in working with our clients to help identify problem areas within their books of business. Whether it is a rate issue, deductible, territory or something else driving the results, our actuary works with our clients to help determine a corrective strategy that can be quantified as material in discussions with reinsurers.
One additional service our Actuarial Department provides is the aggregation of industry data in key lines of business. This information is used by our brokers and clients to help analyze trends, perform peer reviews and identify new opportunities.
Understanding and quantifying risk is critical to our ability to help our clients analyze appropriate reinsurance structures. For property business, catastrophe modeling is the common language used by insurers and reinsurers to measure risk. How risk affects the balance sheet of our clients and how risk will be interpreted by reinsurers who support our clients. Atlantic has access to and utilizes multiple catastrophe models that are commonly used and accepted by industry partners across the globe. Our team of brokers and analysts in the U.S. and London are experienced in running the models and interpreting the results. At Atlantic, we take the time to understand our clients’ exposures and their risk mitigation techniques so that we can effectively communicate them to the market.