Author: Greg Winterton

To the uninitiated, the ‘Life Risk market’ is an umbrella term those in investment circles use to describe the transfer of mortality or longevity risk from the primary market to the capital markets. It manifests itself as two sides of the same coin; ‘mortality risk’ refers to the risk of loss arising from a population that experiences a shorter than expected lifespan whereas ‘longevity risk’ considers the opposite, i.e., risk of loss arising from a population that lives longer than expected. It’s a vast area of finance but one that has historically garnered relatively little attention as a coherent asset…

In public and/or more liquid markets, at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it seemed like everything was correlated; public equities and government bonds all fell sharply as investors sought to liquidate amidst the initial panic. But the panic also spread to the private markets, with private equity portfolio company valuations being written down as investors had to re-model their portfolio company forecasts to adjust to the lockdown environment. Insurance company stock prices certainly took a hit. But in insurance circles, the big question was whether the pandemic was going to be so severe – and cause such an increase…

Patrick McAdams, Investment Director at SL Investment Management, was a founding member and first Chairman of the European Life Settlement Association. McAdams spoke to Life Risk News to explain the genesis of the organisation and his hopes for the future. **** LRN: Patrick – you were part of the founding of ELSA in 2009 but the Life Settlement industry is based in the United States. Why did you think that an association for European firms was necessary? McAdams: Prior to ELSA’s formation, the only association in existence focused solely on U.S. life settlements was the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA).…

The life settlement market has had more than its fair share of challenges in the past decade or so. PR issues plagued the sector as many investors – at least, publicly – stayed away from the perceived negativity attached to longevity risk, and the global financial crisis saw some open-ended funds gate their investors as redemption demands threatened their liquidity – and existence. In the last five years or so, the industry had been on something of an upward swing as investors were forced into looking at alternative investments, like life settlements, that can provide an acceptable yield for their…