Download Life Risk News Volume 4, Issue 6, June 2025
The life settlement secondary market saw a rare pull back in aggregate transaction activity in 2024, according to new data published by industry magazine the Life Settlement Report, part of The Deal. Greg Winterton spoke to John Welcom, CEO at Welcome Funds, Bill Corry, CEO at Corry Capital Advisors, and Scott Rose, CIO at Fifth Season Investments, to get their thoughts on what might have been the reasons why in Both Demand and Supply Factors Contribute to Rare Secondary Market Pullback in 2024.
In the past 12 months or so, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the UK insurance regulator, has increased its scrutiny over the use of funded reinsurance, a type of reinsurance many life insurers use to offset some of the longevity and investment risk they acquire when entering into bulk purchase annuity transactions. Mark McCord caught up with Rishikesh Sivakumar, a Director at Fitch Ratings, to get his thoughts on the outlook for the strategy’s continued use in Funded Reinsurance Under Scrutiny But Should Remain a Feature of the UK Pension risk Transfer Market.
The perceived risk of US life insurers backing group annuity contracts with private assets has largely focused on the ‘safest annuity available’ doctrine in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. But Greg Winterton wanted to find out what some of the actuarial and risk management guardrails are in place to help mitigate against any risk and James Walton, Senior Vice President at Gallagher and Jason Kehrberg, President, Life at the American Academy of Actuaries provided their views in Plenty of Guardrails for US Life Insurers Backing Group Annuities With Private Assets.
A recent update from the UK government’s Department of Health and Social Care’s Mortality Profile for England shows that mortality in England is improving – mostly. Greg Winterton spoke to Nicky Draper, Consultant at Crystallise, to get her thoughts on what the data currently shows in Liver Disease Mortality in England Continues to Worsen but General Mortality Still on a Post-Covid Downward Trend.
Breast cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women worldwide; studies indicate that countries with a higher Human Development Index have higher breast cancer incidence rates, with more than 50% of cases occurring in developed and industrialised nations. Dr Rahul Nawander, Medical Director at Fasano Underwriting, analyses the disease in Life Expectancy in Breast Cancer, a guest article.
The life settlement industry has long prided itself on the precision of its underwriting and mortality assumptions. But as the market matures, and as weit underwrites increasingly affluent insureds, there’s a crucial longevity dynamic that deserves deeper reflection: the wealth effect. So says Liam Bodemeaid, Actuarial Consultant at Actuarial Risk Management, who examines the topic in The Healthy Wealthy Population of the Life Settlement Market, a guest article.
The American Medical Association published research in April 2025 suggesting that US healthcare spending in 2023 was approximately $4.9trn, which, if it were an economy, would place it third globally, ahead of Germany ($4.66trn). Greg Winterton caught up with Matthew Sheridan, who works on data science at Health Data Analytics Institute, to get his thoughts on how predictive modelling is helping US health systems to better triage patients and model risk in this month’s Q&A.
While the UK’s pension risk transfer market is motoring on at a heady clip, across the Irish Sea, Ireland’s nascent market is firmly in gear – but is yet to put its foot on the accelerator pedal. Mark McCord spoke to Ian Moynihan, Director of Propositions, Employer Solutions at Irish Life and Richard Kelly, Partner at Ogier to get their thoughts on the outlook in Irish Pension Risk Transfer Market Sees Growth Hope in Experience of Small UK Schemes.
I hope you enjoy the latest issue of Life Risk News.
Chris Wells
Managing Editor
Life Risk News
