Download Life Risk News Volume 4, Issue 2, February 2025
This month marks the five-year anniversary of the introduction of H.R.5958 – Senior Health Planning Account Act, which would have allowed American seniors to put the proceeds of a life settlement into a tax-deferred/tax-free savings account for the senior and their family to use for health care and long-term care expenses. Greg Winterton spoke to Michael Freedman, CEO at Lighthouse Life, and Rob Haynie, Managing Director at Life Insurance Settlements, to get their thoughts on what could have been in Would the Senior Health Planning Account Act Have Been a Silver Bullet for the Life Settlement Market?
Growth in the purchase of bulk annuity contracts by small defined benefit pension schemes over the past couple of years in the UK has been accompanied by the emergence of templated transfer processes that speed up the closure of deals, enabling insurers to execute more of them. Mark McCord spoke to Adam Davis, Managing Director at K3 Advisory, for his views on the current and future state of this part of the market in Streamlined Pension Risk Transfer Deals Widen Small Scheme Opportunities.
Weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy received significant media column inches last year, largely thanks to celebrities admitting to their use. But glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists were also the talk of the town last year in the UK’s life and health insurance and pension circles. Greg Winterton spoke to Nicky Draper, Director of Longevity Consulting at Crystallise and Stuart McDonald, Partner at Lane, Clark & Peacock to get their insights into just how much these drugs could impact population mortality in Weight Loss Drugs the Talk of the Town in Actuarial Circles.
Life insurers in the US looking to write pension risk transfer business play on a competitive field, with 20-odd of them for US defined benefit pension plans to pick from. But increasingly, access to private market opportunities, whether that be through an affiliate or wholly owned asset manager, is being touted as a competitive edge. Greg Winterton spoke to James Walton, Managing Director at Agilis, for his thoughts on the potential for new entrants in How Many More Asset Managers Can the US Pension Risk Transfer Market Absorb?
Most bulk annuity transactions have been led by a risk transfer advisor selected by the trustees – be that an existing advisor or an external firm brought in to support this project. Chris Hawley, Risk Transfer Partner at Barnett Waddingham, explains some of the different advisory structures for leading a bulk annuity process in Bulk Annuities: Who Steers the Ship?, a guest article.
The third and final part of WL Consulting Managing Director Roger Lawrence’s deep dive into the nuances of the 2024 edition of the ACLI’s Life Insurer’s Fact Book appears this month. In US Life Insurance Policy Cancellations Up Again but New Business Holding Steady, Lawrence focuses on factors that could impact the life settlement market.
The pension risk transfer market in the UK delivered yet another solid year in 2024 with consultants WTW forecasting that, when all is said and done, £48-50bn of deals will have been completed, which could mean a record. Greg Winterton spoke to Mark Sharkey, BPA Origination Lead at Royal London, to get his views on the state of the market and its outlook for 2025 in this month’s Q&A.
Despite falling origination in the primary market in recent years, activity in reverse mortgage securitisations in the US have held steady, and a new development from Ginnie Mae could provide added fuel for the market. Add to that the re-emergence of securitisation activity in Australia, and suddenly, things are looking up. Greg Winterton spoke to Michael McCully, Partner at New View Advisors and Joshua Funder, CEO at Household Capital to get the bullish case in Encouraging Signs for Institutional Investors Looking at Reverse Mortgage Securitisations.
I hope you enjoy the latest issue of Life Risk News.
Chris Wells
Managing Editor
Life Risk News
