Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 1, January 2024

Happy New Year. 

Our first cover story of 2024 looks at what’s in store for the US pension risk transfer market this year. Aaron Woolner spoke to Sheena McEwen, Head of Distribution at Legal and General Retirement of America and Jake Pringle, Principal and Consulting Actuary at Milliman, to get their views in Still Plenty of Capacity for Growth in Robust US PRT Market. 

Closed-ended funds are increasingly common in the life settlement market, but there are significant idiosyncrasies that investors need to know when deciding whether an open or closed-ended fund structure is right for them. Greg Winterton spoke to Jonas Martenson, Founder and Sales Director Ress Capital and Patrick McAdams, Investment Director at SL Investment Management to learn more in Closed-Ended Funds Becoming More Common in Life Settlements but Pros and Cons Not Clear Cut. 

Last year was a year to forget – comparatively – for the life insurance insurtech space as rising interest rates put a dampener on investor demand for private markets strategies. Greg Winterton spoke to Robert Le, Senior Emerging Technology Analyst at PitchBook and Keith Raymond, Principal Analyst, Insurance, at Celent to see what the outlook might be in 2024 for the space in Life, Health-based Insurtech Pulls Back Again in 2023: Outlook Uncertain. 

Body mass index is considered as one of the important vital signs in all medical records and all forms of insurance and life settlement applications screened for underwriting. Dr Rahul Nawander, Medical Director at Fasano Associates, digs into the impact of obesity on mortality in Risk Factors and Drivers of Mortality Associated with Body Mass Index and The Obesity Paradox, a guest article this month. 

In early November last year, industry group the American Council of Life Insurers published its annual Life Insurers Fact Book, the organisation’s deep dive into a range of sub-categories of the US life insurance industry. Roger Lawrence, Managing Director of WL Consulting presents the main takeaways in ACLI 2023 Life Insurers Fact Book Shows Industry in Solid Shape, an analysis piece this month. 

Scott Willkomm, CEO at life settlement provider, Life Equity, recently completed his term as Chair of the European Life Settlement Association. Greg Winterton spoke to Willkomm to get his thoughts on the progress ELSA has made during his tenure in this month’s Q&A. 

The reverse mortgage market in the US has been on a multi-year decline, and recent higher interest rates haven’t helped. Greg Winterton spoke to Jarred Talmadge, Independent Consultant at JTTML Consulting to get his thoughts on the outlook for the market in 2024 in Interest Rates to Continue as Main Influence on US Reverse Mortgage Market Activity in 2024.