Glossary

Bancassurance is the marketing and sale of insurance products through bank distribution channels. This process allows banks and insurers to locate new customers and create additional products through enhanced distribution channels. As consumer demands become more specialized and financial services companies continue to merge, these types of strategic associations and their resulting products will become more prevalent.

A bank, in an insurance context, is an informal, noncontractual multiyear summing up of the total premiums ceded to reinsurers less losses paid by reinsurers over the duration of a reinsurance program—usually a catastrophe program. For example, cessions of $10,000 in premiums for each of 5 loss-free years would constitute a $50,000 bank.

Bankers professional liability (BPL) Insurance (BPLI) is a type of errors and omissions (E&O) coverage written for banks and financial institutions. The policies cover economic losses resulting from mistakes committed in providing financial services that include but are not limited to acting as a wire transfer or escrow agent; consumer financial, tax, or estate planner; or trustee under a bond indenture and providing electronic data processing services. Although the term "bankers professional liability insurance" is often used interchangeably with "trust department E&O liability insurance," the latter is actually a subset of BPLI. This is because coverage for liability arising from a bank's trust department is only one of the many kinds of insurance provided under BPLI forms.

Bankruptcy condition is a common insurance policy condition that prevents an insurer from being relieved of its obligations in the event of bankruptcy or insolvency of the insured or the insured's estate.

With a bareboat charter, the vessel owner and a charterer (an individual or company chartering a vessel) agree that the charterer assumes complete responsibility for the vessel and its operation over the course of the charter. The charterer is also normally responsible for the control and payment of the ship's crew.

Bare walls coverage is one of three approaches used for condominium insurance coverage, with the condo association policy only insuring the bare walls. Under a "bare walls" approach, the condominium association insures only the bare structure of the individual condominium building; the structure, fixtures, and furnishings of collectively owned areas; and the collectively owned personal property of the association. Under this methodology, individual unit owners are responsible for insuring building property they own and use exclusively, such as sinks, built-in cabinets, appliances, flooring, and wallpaper (along with any improvements and betterments) in their individual units under the homeowners (HO) 6 or unit owners form. The other two methods to coordinate this coverage are the "single entity" coverage and the "all inclusive" coverage. The condominium association rules and covenants typically specify which approach is required.

A flat-bottomed boat built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods is called a barge. Most barges are not self-propelled and are moved by tugboats or towboats.

Barratry involves the severe misconduct by the captain or crew of a vessel, including but not limited to fraudulent and criminal acts that cause loss or damage to the vessel or its cargo.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is a commission established in 1988 to develop a risk-based standard for the amount of capital held by banks. The original formula calls for banks to hold 8 percent of capital against credit risk on a weighted basis with 100 percent of weighting (the entire 8 percent) for most loans. The commission is headquartered in Switzerland and is composed of representatives from bank supervisory authorities and central banks from Europe, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Basic causes of loss form is one of the three Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), commercial property insurance causes of loss forms. Causes of loss forms establish and define the causes of loss (or perils) for which coverage is provided. The basic causes of loss form (CP 10 10) provides coverage for the following named perils: fire, lightning, explosion, smoke, windstorm, hail, riot, civil commotion, aircraft, vehicles, vandalism, sprinkler leakage, sinkhole collapse, and volcanic action. The other two causes of loss forms are the broad causes of loss form (CP 10 20) and the special causes of loss form (CP 10 30).