Primary

In reinsurance this term is applied to the nouns: insurer, insured, policy and insurance and means respectively:

(1) the insurance company which initially originates the business, i.e., the Ceding Company;

(2) the policyholder insured by the primary insurer;

(3) the initial policy issued by the primary insurer to the primary insured;

(4) the insurance covered under the primary policy issued by the primary insurer to the primary insured (sometimes called “underlying insurance”).