Important aspects of the Financial Statements of Insurance Companies :
Insurance is an invisible trade. Being an intangible product, it embodies a pledge of protection. By default, insurance transaction relates to assumption of risk—that is reflected in collection of premium—and later paying off claims as and when arise and set aside some money as a residual for future servicing to policyholders. Its quality depends on a visible assurance of the ability to redeem this pledge, as much as on the intrinsic worth of the protection provided. It may sound simple but in reality, it is far more complex. Insurance companies are balance-sheet-driven businesses. Investors use balance sheets to evaluate a company’s financial health. In theory, the balance sheet provides an honest look at a company’s assets and liabilities, enabling investors to make a determination regarding the firm’s health and compare results against the firm’s competitors. Because assets are better than liabilities, companies want to have more assets and fewer liabilities on their balance sheets.
The sine qua non of insurance operation is to service the capital adequately and appropriately. If the adequacy of servicing relates to the probability of increase in shareholder’s value, its appropriateness concerns claims paying ability for which the capital is deployed.
Insurance industry is capital intensive and claims sensitive. Adequacy of capital for a successful insurance operation is a must. Capital is a scarce commodity and it comes at a cost. Since debt capital appearing on the balance sheet involves constraint and cost, insurers often tend to increase their net worth to transact insurance business in a frequently competitive market by taking recourse to ‘Off-Balance Sheet Capital’ obtained through reinsurance and further down the line by retrocession.
The complexity to read the balance sheet of an insurance company arises because of its significant reliance on ‘Off-Balance Sheet Capital’. Regulatory compliance requires an insurance company to arrange first a proper risk transfer mechanism which is known as reinsurance facility for shedding off the additional exposure beyond its limit of retention on any one risk. This is known as ‘Off-Balance Sheet Capital’ as this is a kind of capital that is not visible on the balance sheet but remains obscured that provides financial strength to the company to assume more risks to augment its business.