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Insurer

You carry the risk. This guide runs the whole direct-insurance flow — rate it, underwrite it, bind it (the debit note posts to the ledger), service claims, and protect your book with outward reinsurance.

Best use case

A general (P&C) or life insurer running underwriting, policy administration, claims and finance on one connected ledger — with statutory levies, structured schedules, and automatic ceding to treaty.
Product & rateUnderwrite (score + rules)Bind (debit note → ledger)Issue scheduleClaimsAuto-cede outwardBordereaux to reinsurers

1. Products & rating

  1. Define products & coverages
    Underwriting → Products. A product carries a base rate and minimum premium; coverages add their own rates. This is the rating basis the workbench uses.

Best practice

Keep the base rate and minimum premium current per product — the workbench rates every quote from them, so pricing stays consistent across underwriters.

2. The underwriting workbench

Under Underwriting → Workbench, rate and decide a submission with a live preview.

  1. Capture the submission
    Product, policyholder, sum insured, and the risk profile (hazard level, prior claims, loss ratio). The engine computes a transparent risk score & band.
  2. Add the schedule & cover terms
    Cover type, excess, NCD, third-party limits; motor (reg/make/model/year/use) or property (location/construction/occupancy). Structured, so the schedule and debit note generate from them.
  3. Let the rules engine route it
    Declarative rules refer / decline / load the quote by line, sum-insured band and score. A clean quote is created; a referral waits for an underwriter; a decline is recorded.

Tip

For endowment or life savings, add the term, annual premium, bonus % and interest %. The policy then shows a fund, surrender and maturity projection, plus the life fund reserve: book the movement to put it on the ledger, and when the policy surrenders, matures or pays a death claim, record the benefit there. iqava releases the booked reserve, pays the cash and takes any difference to profit or loss, then closes the policy. For bancassurance, name the distribution channel and its commission %.

3. Quote → bind → issue

  1. Clear referrals, then bind
    A referred quote is cleared by an approver; a clean quote binds. On bind a booking code is issued and the debit note posts to the ledger: the receivable is grossed up (premium + levies), the risk premium is income, and the statutory levies (training levy, PCF, stamp duty) are pass-through liabilities.
  2. Activate / issue
    Bound → Active incepts the cover. Generate the policy schedule and debit notedocuments from the structured terms.

Watch out

Levies are collected on behalf of the regulator and remitted — only the risk premium is earned income. The debit note keeps them separate automatically; don't book levies as revenue.

Debit note — 2,000,000 sum insured @ 4% (Kenyan statutory levies)

Risk premium (income)80,000
Insurance Training Levy 0.25%200
Policyholders Compensation Fund 0.25%200
Stamp duty (flat)40
Total payable (receivable)KES 80,440

4. Endorsements & renewals

Mid-term endorsements carry a premium and sum-insured delta. Renewalre-rates the risk against current product config into a fresh quote, linked back to the prior term.

5. Claims

FNOL → reserve → settlement under Claims. Reserve movements post to the ledger as they change (claims incurred / reserve). An AI triage assistant proposes coverage, a reserve range and next steps — a proposal only. Where the policy is ceded, a reinsurance recovery is auto-drafted.

6. Outward reinsurance

  1. Auto-cede on bind
    When a policy binds and an outward treaty covers the line, iqava auto-drafts a cession — the surplus split for a surplus treaty, or the flat cession % for quota share. Confirming it posts the ceded premium to the ledger.
  2. Generate outward bordereaux
    From the treaty, generate the premium and loss bordereaux to send to your reinsurers, built from the cessions and recoveries booked against it.

Best practices — recap

  • Rate from products, not ad-hoc — keep base rates + minimums current.
  • Capture schedule terms as data so schedules and debit notes are correct and reprintable.
  • Let the rules engine route referrals; don't bind over authority.
  • Trust the debit note split — premium is income, levies are pass-through.
  • Confirm auto-cessions promptly and issue outward bordereaux to reinsurers each period.

Related: Reinsurer · Documentation overview