expense ratio vs combined ratio

问题如下：

Viktoria Smith is a recently hired junior analyst at Aries Investments. Smith and her supervisor, Ingrid Johansson, meet to discuss some of the firm’s investments in banks and insurance companies.

To evaluate P&C insurance companies, Johansson tells Smith that she places emphasis on the efficiency of spending on obtaining new premiums.

The best indicator of the operations of a P&C insurance company emphasized by Johansson when evaluating P&C insurance companies is the:

选项：

A.

underwriting expense ratio.

B.

underwriting loss ratio.

C.

combined ratio.

解释：

A is correct.

The underwriting expense ratio is an indicator of the efficiency of money spent on obtaining new premiums. The underwriting loss ratio is an indicator of the quality of a company’s underwriting activities-the degree of success an underwriter has achieved in estimating the risks insured. The combined ratio, a measure of the overall underwriting profitability and efficiency of an underwriting operation, is the sum of these two ratios.

解析：Johansson强调获得新保费的效率。主要看的是underwriting expense ratio=underwriting expense/net premium written。衡量的是每获得一块钱的保费要付出去多少运营成本（销售人员佣金、工资等）。underwriting loss ratio衡量的是银行承保业务的质量，看保险公司对风险的预估是否准确及定的保费是否合理（保费能否cover发生的理赔）。两个合在一起是combined ratio，衡量综合效率。