Author: Greg Winterton

The US is now the only remaining nationwide secondary market for consumer life insurance policies. That’s because the German Traded Life Policy (TLP) market has gone the way of the Traded Endowment Policy (TEP) market in the UK – i.e., it is now largely defunct. Unlike the TEP market, however, it’s the macroeconomic environment, not the regulatory one, that is responsible for the demise. Higher interest rates have essentially put paid to an entire industry that was, essentially, an interest rate arbitrage play. Policies paying interest rates of, say, 3%, were purchased during the era of central bank zero interest…

Life insurance companies have a reputation for being something akin to an oil tanker – big, and slow. But their approach to incorporating generative AI (GenAI) into various functions of their businesses can hardly be claimed to be thus. A snap poll conducted by technology research and consulting firm, Celent, in June this year revealed that nearly 10% of life insurers in the United States were already using GenAI in production. And 50% said that they would be either using GenAI in a live environment or in a test environment before the year is out. The technology is being used…

The UK’s Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) carries out research into mortality and morbidity experience and produces practical tools that are widely used by actuaries. It published its most recent set of projections in July, showing lower life expectancies. So, for August’s poll, we asked, ‘How Significant Will the Impact of the Latest CMI Data on UK Life Expectancy Be on Life Risk Markets?’ Our readers were split. 47% said they thought that the latest report was ‘very significant’ because we’ve not seen changes like this in some time, but 41.2% said that it wasn’t significant, because many other factors are…

The involvement of the capital markets in terms of its capability to absorb longevity risk has been talked about for years, but action has been largely absent. Life Risk News’ Greg Winterton caught up with David Blake, Professor of Finance & Director of the Pensions Institute, Bayes Business School, to get his thoughts on the current state of the longevity financing conundrum. GW: David, let’s start with mortality. The CMI recently incorporated Covid-19 data into its mortality projections, the result being lower life expectancies. What’s your view of the impact here? DB: In July 2023, the CMI reported that deaths…

Participants in the UK equity release market – insurance companies, advisers and consultants – generally agree that the industry has something of an awareness challenge. Despite industry efforts in terms of media advertising, many in the over-55 cohort – those homeowners who can take out an equity release mortgage – either don’t know that the option exists, or might have come across it in passing, but haven’t taken the time to explore the nuances of the option. The current macroeconomic environment is changing that, however. And, according to Rudy Khaitan, Managing Partner at UK-based later life lender Senior Capital, there’s…

The life settlement market enjoyed a ‘win’ on July 27; the Supreme Court of Arizona answered “No” to the question: “Does Arizona law permit an insurer to challenge the validity of a life insurance policy based on a lack of insurable interest after the expiration of the two-year contestability period required by A.R.S. § 20-1204?”  The case is the latest of many legal contests between life insurance companies and life settlements investors on the topic of insurable interest; the former, in this case, Columbus Life Insurance Company filed suit in Arizona, claiming that a life insurance policy on Howard Peterson, who…

Life Risk News UK Pension Risk Transfer Consultants roundtable

The secondary market in life settlements comprises mainly two channels – an intermediary-based one, and the direct-to-consumer one. The former has been, for many years, the larger of the two, as American seniors worked with brokers to sell their life insurance policy to a third- party investor.  But the D2C channel has been growing its share of the pie in recent years, and as baby boomers have aged into the life settlement market – those aged 70 and above – as has the importance of internet advertising in the D2C channel.  For July’s poll, we asked our readers whether they…

Life settlement investor Corry Capital Advisors manages more than $2bn in assets and counts pension plans, foundations, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds amongst its clients. Greg Winterton spoke to William Corry, Founder and Managing Director at Corry Capital Advisors, to get his views on the industry, and to learn more about the firm and its approach.  GW: Bill, a lot has been made of the impact of higher interest rates on investor appetite for life settlements, but there’s some cyclicality here, isn’t there? Are there any reasons why investors should still be allocating now versus waiting for rates to plateau,…

The life settlement market is regulated in 43 US states – Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wyoming being the naysayers (Michigan and New Mexico regulate viatical settlements but not life settlements) – and each state follows one of two model acts, NCOIL or NAIC, or a hybrid of both.  Regardless of the model used by a state that regulates the industry, two commonalities are that a licensed life settlement provider must be the purchaser of the life insurance policy from the original owner (often, but not always, the insured), and, when a consumer works with a broker to sell…