Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter
Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) is a professional designation in property-casualty insurance and risk management. The CPCU designation is held by just over 2% of all those employed in the insurance industry in the United States, and is widely considered the premier designation in the property and casualty insurance industry. Achieving the designation requires completion of courses covering topics such as insurance law, history, contracts, property insurance, liability insurance, operations, rate making, and risk management, as well as business courses in finance, corporate structure, and ethics.
Designees must pass extensive national exams in four core courses, three courses in either a personal or commercial insurance concentration, one elective of their choosing, as well as one ethics course. These exams are standardized, two hour multiple choice, objective-type exams.
CPCU designees are also bound by a Code of Ethics, and must satisfy educational and experience requirements. The CPCU designation is administered by the American Institute for Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters. Designation holders have formed a professional society, the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) Society. In addition to annual national meetings which serves as a conferment ceremony, the society has over 150 local chapters throughout the country.
Courses
CPCU 500 Foundations of Risk Management and Insurance: Risk Management, Risk Assessment, Risk Control, Risk Financing, Enterprise-Wide Risk Management, Insurance as a Risk Management Technique, Insurance Policy Analysis, and Common Policy Concepts.
CPCU 520 Insurance Operations:
Overview Of Insurance Operations, Insurance
Regulation, Insurance Marketing and Distribution, The Underwriting
Function, Underwriting Property and Liability Insurance, Risk Control
and Premium Auditing, The Claim Function, Adjusting Property and
liability Claims, Actuarial Operations, and Reinsurance.
CPCU 530 Business Law for Insurance Professionals:
U.S. Law, Contract Law, Contract Law:
Insurance Applications, Commercial Law, Property Law, Tort Law,
Agency Law, Agency Law Insurance Applications, Business Entities
and Employment Law, and International Legal Environment.
CPCU 540 Finance and Accounting for Insurance Professionals:
Corporate Finance and Accounting,
GAAP Financial Statements, GAAP Financial Statement
Analysis, Insurer Statutory Accounting, Insurer Statutory Annual
Statement Analysis, Cash Flow Valuation, Bonds and Stocks,
Insurer Investment Portfolio Management, Insurer Capital Needs
and Sources, Capital Management, Mergers and Acquisitions,
and The Underwriting Cycle.
Commercial Concentration:
CPCU 551 Commercial Property Risk Management Insurance:
Intro to Commercial Property Insurance;
Building and Personal Property Coverage Form; Causes of Loss
Forms; Other Commercial Property Coverage Options; Flood,
Earthquake, and Specialty Forms; Business Income Insurance;
Inland Marine and Ocean Cargo; Commercial Crime Insurance;
Equipment Breakdown; Businessowners Policies; Industry-Specific
Policies; and Surety Bonds.
CPCU 552 Commercial Liability Risk Management and Insurance:
Commercial General Liability (CGL); Business Auto, Garage and
Motor Carrier; Workers Compensation and Employers Liability;
Management Liability; Professional Liability; Environmental; Aviation;
Excess and Umbrella Liability Insurance; Cyber Risk; and Terrorism.
CPCU 553 Survey of Personal Insurance and Financial Planning:
Personal Insurance Overview; Automobile Insurance
and Society; Personal Auto Policy: Liability, Medical Payments,
and UM Coverage; Personal Auto Policy: Physical Damage; Duties
After an Accident; Endorsements; Homeowners Property Coverage;
Homeowners Liability Coverage; Homeowners Coverage Forms
and Endorsements; Other Residential Insurance; Other Personal
Property and Liability Insurance; Life Insurance Planning; Retirement
Planning; and Disability and Health Insurance Planning.
Personal Concentration:
CPCU 555 Personal Risk Management and Property-Casualty Insurance:
The Personal Auto Insurance Environment; Personal Auto Insurance: Liability, Medical
Payments, and Um Coverage; Personal Auto Insurance: Physical
Damage and Endorsements; Homeowners Property Coverage;
Homeowners Property Coverage: Perils, Exclusions, and conditions;
Homeowners Liability Coverage; Other Homeowners Coverage
Forms and Endorsements; Other Residential Insurance Coverages
Watercraft, Rvs, Mobile Homes, and Excess Liability; Personal Lines
Profitability and Pricing; and Personal Lines Portfolio Management.
CPCU 556 Financial Planning:
Introduction to Personal Financial Planning, Life Insurance, Annuities,
Disability and Health insurance Planning, Post-secondary Education Funding,
Retirement Planning, Retirement Funding, Estate Planning, Investment Basics,
and Income Tax Planning
CPCU 557 Survey of Commercial Insurance:
Commercial Property, Business Income, Commercial
Crime, Equipment Breakdown, Inland and Ocean Marine, Commercial
General Liability, Commercial Auto, Business owners, Farm, Workers
Compensation and Employers Liability, Miscellaneous Coverages.
Elective Courses:
AAI 83 Agency Operations and Sales Management
AIC 31 Property Claims Practices
AIC 32 Liability Claims Practices
ARe 144 Reinsurance Principles and Practices
ARM 56 Risk Financing
AU 67 Strategic Underwriting Techniques
CPCU 560 Financial Services Institutions
ERM 57 Enterprise Risk Management
AAI 87 Agency Leadership and Strategic Alignment
AIC 47 Claims Leadership and Organizational Alignment
External links
- American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, branded as The Institutes
- CPCU Society