An insurance company which is owned by its policyholders who formed an association for the purposes of insuring one another against the possibility of fortuitous loss. Each policyholder pays a premium for his or her own policy. If at the end of the fiscal year the mutual insurance company declares a profit, the profit is shared amongst all the policy holders. If the company declares a loss there is also a provision for the policy holders to be assessed a levy to make up for this shortfall.