Download Life Risk News Volume 2, Issue 10, October 2023

The impact of the rising interest rate environment of the past 18 months has had a significant impact on the life settlement industry, as it has with all alternative asset classes. Greg Winterton spoke to Bill Corry, Founder at Corry Capital, Alejandra Limones, Partner at Demeter Capital and Jonas Martenson, Founder and Sales Director at Ress Capital to get their thoughts on the state of the life settlement market in Plenty of Positives for Life Settlement Market Despite Challenging Macro Environment. 

A number of factors determine an individual’s likely life expectancy, but there is also evidence that social contact has an impact on mortality rates. Aaron Woolner spoke to Sacha Dhamani, Chair of the Mortality and Morbidity Research Steering Committee at the UK’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Rahul Nawander, Medical Director at Fasano Associates and John Lynch, Director of Actuarial and Underwriting Services at Longevity Holdings, for their thoughts on the topic in Evidence Mounts That Loneliness Shortens Life Expectancy. 

In life settlement litigation cases, some courts have held in recent years that an insured’s use of a non-recourse loan to purchase a policy that they intend to sell amounts to an unlawful wager, which renders the policy void. Not so in North Carolina; Jeffrey Davis spoke to Andrew Dykens, Senior Associate at ArentFox Schiff, to get his views on the Trevathan ruling in North Carolina’s Trevathan Ruling A Win for Life Settlement Market. 

The life ILS market is a multi-faceted one, providing an array of opportunities for both institutional investors and asset managers to participate in the space. Greg Winterton spoke to Craig Gillespie, Head of Life and Alternative Credit Portfolio Management at Leadenhall Capital Partners, Scott Mitchell, Head of Life ILS, Portfolio Manager at Schroders and Gokul Sudarsana, Managing Director, Chief Actuary at Hudson Structured Capital Management to get their thoughts on the current state of the market for a roundtable this month. 

Macro- and micro-longevity risk don’t describe or imply anything about a life expectancy provider’s methodology, but as they assess more lives over time, underwriters learn more about the macro and micro implications of their work. Chris Conway, Chief Development Officer at ISC Services, explains more in a commentary piece, Deciphering Longevity Assessment: Unveiling Macro-Longevity and Micro-Longevity Perspectives, this month. 

The life settlement industry tends to measure its size based on the US dollar value of policies transacted in the space’s secondary market, but the industry’s tertiary market is much larger in terms of the total face value of policies transacted. But what about the amount of money that the asset managers in the space run? We wanted to see what our readers thought, so our poll for this month asked, What Is Your Best Estimate for the Total Value of Life Settlements in Assets Under Management (AUM) Across All Life Settlement Funds? 

Consumer awareness in the secondary life settlement market is a perpetual hot topic in the industry. Greg Winterton spoke with Michael Freedman, CEO at life settlements provider Lighthouse Life, to get his take on the current state of consumer awareness in the space and what could be done to improve in this month’s Q&A. 

The UK government’s plan to reform the country’s insurance regulatory regime took its latest step on 28th September with the publication of the Bank of England Prudential Regulatory Authority’s Consultation Paper regarding the planned changes to matching adjustment portfolios. One of the key points that British politicians are trying to push here is that they want the insurance sector to be able to invest in a wider range of assets than they currently can – but just changing the rules might not be enough. Greg Winterton spoke to David Burton, Partner at EY in London, to get his thoughts in Matching Adjustment Portfolio Reform Unlikely To Open Illiquid Assets Floodgates Just Yet.