From Fr<>En Risk Insurance Reinsurance Lexicon

New kind of insurance instrument.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-02-11 22:40:27 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

variable life

Life insurance for which the amount of the payments is determined by the performance of the underlying investments chosen by the policyholder. Agents selling such policies must be Registered Representatives of a broker/dealer licensed by the NASD and registered with the SEC.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-02-11 22:41:22 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

the units are not necessarily currency units they can be other investments

Unit of account: Theoretical currency
used to establish prices in
certain business and
international transactions.
Used as a concept rather
than an actual type of
currency.
EX – Money, as a unit of
account, enables us to
express the exchange value
of commodities and services
by their prices. S

I went to the Europa site, which is often a good starting point. In a doc about sugar – nothing to do with insurance, I know – I found “units of account”. But in the Canadian Actuaries Lexicon, I then found “unit of accumulation” for “unité de compte”…the plot thickens.

I put the terms to the test in insurance contexts. My findings are set out below. I would plump for unit of accumulation.

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/fr/lif/dat/2000/fr_200A1215_01.... & http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/lif/dat/2000/en_200A1215_01....

http://www.actuaries.ca/publications/lexicon/lextu.html

unit of accumulation = unité de compte (VOC-R, LGA)

www.granddictionnaire.com

unité de compte = unit of accumulation
Déf : Dans un contrat individuel, unité servant à déterminer la rente à capital variable d'un constituant.


UNIT OF ACCOUNT :

www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1990/Uksi_19901181_en_1.htm (credit insurance - getting closer…)

Statutory Instrument 1990 No. 1181 The Insurance Companies (Credit Insurance) Regulations 1990


UNIT OF ACCUMULATION (AUV):

http://www.insweb.com/learningcenter/glossary/annuity-a.htm

Accumulation unit value (AUV) : An annuity's subaccount price per share during the accumulation phase. It's the net asset value after income and capital gains have been included and subaccount management expenses have been subtracted.

http://www.investorwords.com/cgi-bin/getword.cgi?76

accumulation unit : A share of participation in a variable annuity

http://www.hartfordinvestor.com/edcntr/gloss.html

Accumulation Units. In a variable annuity contract, if you allocate your Premium Payments to any of the subaccounts, we will convert those payments into Accumulation Units in the selected subaccounts. Accumulation units are valued at the end of each Valuation Day and are used to calculate the value of your Contract prior to Annuitization.

http://www.rate.co.uk/glossary/i.html


Int. Dictionary of Insurance & Finance, Chartered Inst. Of Bankers.

Accumulation units : in unit trusts or life assurance, an AC is one for which the dividend is ploughed back into the investment to produce higher earnings.

The exact term in English is "units of account" as expressed in this EU Council Directive.

Article 2
As an transitional measure and until the amounts expressed in ***units of account*** in Directive 73/239/EEC have been amended for the first time, the amounts expressed in national currency for conversion of the unit of account, as defined in Article 5 (a), shall not be less than those derived according to the rate of conversion applicable to the unit of account before the adoption of this Directive.