Definition of Insurance Reserves
- Payments made by insurance companies can sometimes differ from those originally predicted. Reserves guarantee against claims payments or anticipated premiums being higher than expected by actuarial estimates.
- Banking insurance reserves can be in cash or assets which can easily be turned into cash, such as gold. In the U.S., the reserve of a national bank must be in cash while the Bank of England stores gold for reserve purposes.
- Life insurance companies always regard their reserves as a liability. These reserves represent the financial difference between the insurance policy's present value and future premiums paid on the policy.