Defined terms for the annuity market and lifetime income landscape.
Quantitative tightening is a monetary policy in which a central bank reduces the size of its balance sheet by allowing bond holdings to mature without reinvestment or by selling bonds outright, reversing the bond purchases conducted during quantitative easing.
Quota share reinsurance is a proportional reinsurance structure in which the reinsurer assumes a fixed percentage of every policy in a defined block of business, taking the same percentage of premium and bearing the same percentage of losses on every individual policy in that block.
A ratchet feature is a rider mechanic that locks in upward movements in the benefit base — or another rider-defined value — preventing subsequent decreases below the locked-in level, used in some contracts as a synonym for the step-up provision and in others as a distinct mechanic.
