Author: Chris Wells

Our November 2024 Editor’s Letter for Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 11. We hope you enjoy the latest issue of Life Risk News.

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 10, October 2024 The US Federal Reserve cut the country’s interest rate by 50 basis points in mid-September, the first reduction since the spring of 2020. The impact will be felt across many private asset classes, but what of the impact to the life settlement market? Greg Winterton spoke to Jonas Martenson, Founder and Sales Director at Ress Capital, Rob Haynie, Managing Director at Life Insurance Settlements and Phil Hall, Director of Policy Trading at Longevity Holdings to learn more in Just How Much Influence Do Interest Rates Have on the Life Settlement…

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 9, September 2024 Defined benefit pension schemes seeking an insurer-led buy-out will, in many instances, have to divest themselves of any illiquid assets they hold in their investment portfolio. With buy-out activity almost touching £50bn in the UK’s bulk purchase annuity market in 2023, the divestment of illiquid assets has become a frenzied process. Samantha Downes spoke to André Kerr, Partner at XPS Group, Kunal Sood, Managing Director for Defined Benefit Solutions at Standard Life, Joe Evans, Senior Vice President at Redington and Ajith Balan Nair, Head of Asset Class and Manager Research…

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2024 The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA, publisher of Life Risk News) has published its latest Licensed Provider Matrix, which documents the states of the US that various life settlement providers are licensed to do business in. Greg Winterton spoke to James W. Maxson, Partner at EM3 Law and Bryan Nicholson, Executive Director at the Life Insurance Settlement Association, to get their thoughts on the provider space in Consistent Licensed Provider Landscape Indicative of Maturation of Life Settlement Industry.  The Longevity Index for England (LIFE Index), developed by a team led…

The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA), the leading advocacy group for life settlement investors, has announced the agenda for its upcoming Secondary Life Markets Conference 2024. Held in Stockholm, Sweden, on Thursday 12th September, the agenda for this year’s event has been designed to cover the most pressing topics impacting both investors with exposure to the market and asset managers investing in the space. This year’s event will begin with Progress and Plans: The Past And Upcoming 12 Months at ELSA, a keynote address from Corry Capital Advisors’ Founder and CEO Bill Corry, who is also ELSA’s current Chair, before…

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2024 It’s now a year since UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority brought in its new Consumer Duty, a regulation requiring all financial services firms to ‘act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers’ for all new (and now, closed) product offerings. While there are fundamental benefits of this to the country’s equity release market, it’s not a needle mover in terms of greasing the wheels of supply. Greg Winterton spoke to Ben Grainger, Partner at EY, for his thoughts on the topic in UK Consumer Duty Barely Impacting an Equity…

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2024 Industry publication The Deal publishes an annual report that looks at the number of transactions in the life settlement industry’s secondary market. This year, the headline numbers show a market in growth mode, as both the number of deals and the total value of them have increased for the third consecutive year. Greg Winterton spoke to Rainer Gruenig, CEO at Plenum Investments, Rob Haynie, Managing Director at Life Insurance Settlements, Inc. and Anton Pozine, Portfolio Manager at Ress Capital to get an asset manager’s perspective on the state of the secondary…

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 5, May 2024 In April, industry group LISA was at an NCOIL meeting proposing amendments to NCOIL’s Life Settlements Model Act that would support growth in the secondary market. It followed that up in early May by publishing the 2023 edition of its Market Data Collection Survey. Greg Winterton joined the dots, with comments from Bryan Nicholson, Executive Director at LISA, John Dallas, CEO at Berkshire Settlements and Chair of LISA, Alan Buerger, Coventry First Co-Founder and Executive Chairman and ACLI spokesperson Whit Corman in Life Settlement Market Pays More Than $800m To…

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2024 Unsurprisingly, given its growth and potential for capital optimisation, UK regulators have been carefully watching the increased use of funded reinsurance, writing a letter to Chief Risk Officers at insurers in June last year, and following that up in November by issuing a consultation paper. Aaron Woolner spoke to Michael Abramson, Partner at Hymans Robertson and Craig Turnbull, Partner at Barnett Waddingham to get their thoughts on the current state of the space in UK Regulators Look To Understand Funded Re Risks.  At the beginning of February, UK trade group…

Download Life Risk News Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2024 The first two weeks of March have provided new constituent developments in the UK’s pension risk transfer market as industry players compete for talent. Greg Winterton spoke to TC Jefferson, Managing Partner at executive search firm The Plenum Group and to learn more, with additional commentary from James Mullins, Head of Risk Transfer at consulting firm Hymans Robertson in Personnel Battle Heating Up As Constituents Change in Booming UK Pension Risk Transfer Market. The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA, publisher of Life Risk News) has recently published Selling a Life Insurance…