Download Life Risk News Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2025
Industry group the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) has recently published the results of its latest Market Member Survey, in which its licensed provider members supply anonymised data to the organisation that it then aggregates to provide a view of what it says is the positive impact of the life settlement market on American Seniors. Greg Winterton gathered views from Neal Jacobs, Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets at Coventry (and current LISA Chair), Rob Haynie, Managing Director at Life Insurance Settlements, John Welcom, CEO at Welcome Funds and Bryan Nicholson, Executive Director at LISA for New Data Shows the Extent to Which American Seniors Are Missing Out by Lapsing or Surrendering their Life Insurance Policy.
There has been significant activity in bulk purchase annuity buy-ins in the UK in recent years, which at some point will need to move to buy-out so that the original scheme can wind-down. Mark McCord spoke to Dean Wetton, Founder and Managing Director of Dean Wetton Advisory, and Lara Desay, Head of Risk Transfer at Hymans Robertson to find out why progress has been slow thus far in Buy-Ins To Buy-Outs Appear Stalled As Deal Complexity, Administration Resources Pose Obstacles.
Life settlement portfolio construction and risk management is a complex, multi-faceted operation, but servicers argue their expertise can help asset managers extract additional alpha. Greg Winterton spoke to John McFarland, CEO of NorthStar Life Services, LLC and Moritz Roever, CEO at Asset Servicing Group to learn more about the nuances and potential benefits of this service in Is Servicing an Overlooked Source of Life Settlement Alpha?
The UK government’s plan to allow well-funded pension schemes to release surpluses to sponsoring employers may weaken bulk annuity pipelines in the short term, but Fitch Ratings expects strong demand from sponsors looking to transfer pension liabilities to insurers to reduce their balance-sheet risk. Rishikesh Sivakumar, Director, Insurance at Fitch Ratings, explains what underpins the firm’s bullish stance in UK Life Insurers to Benefit from Robust Bulk Annuity Market in 2025, a guest article this month.
In volatile financial environments, institutional and retail investors increasingly seek asset classes untethered to the whims of global markets. The wild first quarter of 2025 has reinforced the market’s inherent potential for unpredictability, further underscoring the importance of uncorrelated investment vehicles. Jay Jackson, Chairman and CEO at Abacus Global Management, offers his thoughts on how lifespan-based financial products are insulated from the broader macroeconomy in The Power of Uncorrelated Diversification During Market Volatility, a guest article.
Over the last year we have continued to see growth in bulk purchase annuity (BPA) transaction volumes in the UK, given high demand for corporate defined benefit scheme risk transfer. Gareth Truran, Executive Director, Insurance Supervision at the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority, offers an update on the PRA’s current view of the opportunities and risks in the space in Overseeing BPA Growth Safely, a guest article based on his recent speech at the 22nd Westminster and City Annual Bulk Annuities Conference.
The UK pension risk transfer (PRT) market has delivered, yet again, a high activity start to the year, with two new insurers entering the market, and deals aplenty being completed. Greg Winterton spoke to Shelly Beard, Managing Director at WTW, to get her views on the state of play in the market as we approach the halfway point of 2025 in this month’s Q&A.
A recent report from PitchBook, Emerging Space Brief: Longevity Tech provides an update of investment activity in the space, including deal data and notable funding statistics. Greg Winterton spoke to Sergey Jakimov, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of venture capital firm LongeVC, to get his thoughts on the outlook for the space in Longevity Tech to Emerge as Distinct Sub-Sector of Venture Capital Market?
I hope you enjoy the latest issue of Life Risk News.
Chris Wells
Managing Editor
Life Risk News
