Author: Greg Winterton
Life settlement provider Abacus Life listed on the Nasdaq a year ago, a rarity in the life settlement market. Greg Winterton spoke to Jay Jackson, Founder and CEO at Abacus Life, to get his thoughts on a range of topics in the life settlement market. GW: Jay, we’re into the second half of 2024 now, and both LISA and The Deal have published their annual data insights into activity in the secondary market. What are your thoughts on the results at an industry level? JJ: Overall, I thought the results were encouraging for our industry. The life settlement market had…
Investors in the senior living market in the US are typically more active in assisted living facilities, as opposed to a nursing home. The two are very different stateside and provide different levels of care. But regardless, for senior living investors, the risk associated with investing in the space has typically been a real estate one – vacancy rates. Every unoccupied bedroom is missing rental income that could be going into the bank account of the investor. But as far as risks go, that’s arguably a small one, with the industry recently seeing occupancy rates increase for the 11th consecutive…
The rising interest rate environment of the past two and a half years has had the impact of reining in deal activity in some life ILS trades, such as commission financing or value-in-force (VIF) deals, because rising rates make these transactions more expensive for life insurers, thus dampening demand, as well as being challenged by rate-driven lapsation. That is not the case in the asset-intensive corner of the life ILS market, however. These deals – whereby the investor(s) assume both the liability and asset risk associated with a block of insurance-linked policies, like annuities, for example – benefit from a…
The remarkable growth in the pension risk transfer market in the past few years has caught the eye of the trade media, investors – and regulators. But the transferring of longevity risk from pension funds was discussed long before it became a ‘thing’. Greg Winterton spoke to John Kiff, formerly of the International Monetary Fund, and now an independent consultant, to get his views on how the industry has evolved since he first started discussing it in the mid-2000s. GW: John, you were discussing the longevity risk transfer market back in 2006 when you worked at the IMF. Go back…
In mid-May, Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Andrew N. Mais filed a ‘Petition for Rehabilitation and Appointment of the Commissioner as Rehabilitator of PHL Variable Insurance Company (PHL)’ and its subsidiaries, Concord Re, Inc. and Palisado Re, Inc., in the Connecticut Superior Court. “Today’s filing underscores the Department’s commitment to protecting consumers and ensuring the availability of a financially sound insurance industry in Connecticut,” said Commissioner Mais in a press release. “This action is a critical first step for the Department to begin developing and implementing a plan of rehabilitation that both maximizes the value of the Companies’ assets and equitably administers…
The life settlement industry’s secondary market has grown for the third consecutive year, according to The Deal’s life settlements league tables, published in early June. The Deal collects transaction data by licensed life settlement providers via public records requests to state insurance departments. Providers are a mandatory participant in the life settlement market, so the data has become something of an annual bellwether for the health of the market overall. This year, the two main points are that the number of transactions completed in the secondary market is up for the third consecutive year, and the aggregate face value of…
US-based industry group the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) published its 2023 Market Data Collection Survey report in early May. The report, now in its third year, collects secondary market transaction data from the organisation’s life settlement provider members, which it says represents more than 95% of transactions in the secondary market overall. The headline this year is that the life settlement market paid out more than $843m in the calendar year 2023 to US consumers who sold their life insurance policy, up from $790m last year, and $750m in 2022. “The data collected by LISA in our Members Annual…
The life settlement market has seen a few litigation cases in the state of Delaware in recent years whereby the estate of a deceased has brought a claim against a life settlement asset manager to recover the death benefit of the life insurance policy. In these cases, plaintiffs argued that because these policies specifically were purchased using a premium finance arrangement (under which the insured borrows money to pay the premiums) they violated Delaware law on insurable interest when they were issued. Recent Delaware decisions suggest that in these situations, the death benefit should go to the estate, so the…
Life expectancy is one of the largest influences on the performance of a life settlement investment, and the space continues to evolve with advances in new technology and society’s understanding of mortality. Life Risk News’ Greg Winterton spoke to Chris Conway, Chief Development Officer, ISC Services, Vince Granieri, CEO, Predictive Resources, John Lynch, Director of Actuarial and Underwriting Services, Longevity Holdings, Sean Malone, President and CEO, Longevity Services and S. Jay Olshansky, Chief Scientist and Co-Founder, Lapetus Solutions to get their views on the current state of their sector, its challenges and opportunities. GW: Let’s start this year’s roundtable from…
Life settlement funds have long enjoyed a home in Ireland. Greg Winterton caught up with Ailish Finnerty, Partner at law firm Arthur Cox, to learn more about why, and whether the trend will persist. GW: Ailish, let’s start with the obvious. Why do so many life settlement funds call Ireland home? AF: US life settlement portfolios represent a very attractive investment to US and non-US investors alike. In bringing investors together, a key focus of the asset manager will be to ensure the fund is located in a favourable jurisdiction that has a long established and well-respected legal regime in…