Author: Greg Winterton

Asset manager Obra Capital has hired Vlad Sorokulov as Managing Director, Portfolio Management and Pricing.   At Obra, Sorokulov will be responsible for supporting the investment team across the firm’s portfolio of both life settlements and life insurance. Sorokulov will be based in New York and report to Blair Wallace, President and Chief Executive Officer of Obra Capital.  “We’re excited to welcome Vlad to our experienced investment team,” said Wallace.  “Vlad brings a depth of skills and knowledge of life insurance products and experience in implementing sophisticated pricing strategies and financial models that will be utilised to support our investments across…

Non-bank mortgage servicer and originator Onity Group, previously Ocwen Financial Corporation until a June re-brand, has entered into a letter of intent with Waterfall Asset Management to acquire reverse mortgage assets of Mortgage Assets Management, LLC, a subsidiary of investment funds managed by Waterfall.  “We are pleased to announce the proposed transaction with Waterfall,” said Onity Chair, President and CEO Glen Messina, in a press release outlining the group’s Q2 2024 results.  “We expect this transaction to be accretive to earnings and cash flows immediately upon closing, while strengthening our position in reverse servicing as a hedge to forward MSRs,…

SCA UK Pension Plan, sponsored by Essity Holding UK Limited, has completed a buy-in bulk purchase annuity transaction with Legal & General.  The deal, worth £1.1bn, secures the benefits of 5,900 retirees and 3,600 deferred members.  “I’m delighted that the trustees, Essity, Legal & General and our advisers have been able to work together to complete this transaction. It is good news for our members and increases the level of security that their pension benefits will be paid in full. The outcome was only possible in the time frame as a result of the great team effort between everyone involved,”…

Coventry is injecting an additional $300m into program that enables policyowners to sell their Universal Life insurance policy in as little as one week.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority has published its funded reinsurance policy statement, and for life insurers in the UK looking to offload some of their bulk purchase annuity longevity risk to offshore reinsurers, the message is that the regulator expects them to understand fully the risks inherent to these transactions.  “It is essential that firms who have entered into FundedRe transactions are able to demonstrate, with a high degree of confidence, that they can withstand, in a viable form, either a single recapture event or multiple recapture events involving highly correlated reinsurance counterparties,” says Gareth Truran, Executive Director,…

British regulator The Pensions Regulator’s new DB funding code has been laid before the country’s lawmakers.  The new DB funding code sets out to trustees, sponsoring employers and advisers TPR’s guidance and expectations on how to comply with the funding and investment strategy requirements. Once in force, it will replace the existing DB funding code, introduced in 2014, for valuations with effective dates on or after 22 September 2024.  The Pensions Regulator says the new DB funding code encourages good long-term planning and risk management behaviours; includes guidance on how trustees can set funding plans in line with the support…

Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, has concluded a £100m bulk purchase annuity transaction covering members of two linked pension schemes sponsored by a provider of catering, onboard retail and food service logistics to the travel industry.  This full scheme buy-in, which completed in April, involved combining three pension scheme sections into one transaction, securing the benefits of around 2,100 members across the schemes.  “This transaction saw us work closely with the trustees, led by Vidett, and its advisers to help meet the specific requirements of schemes,” said Emma Haylock, BPA Transaction Manager at Standard Life.  “The collaborative approach by…

Australian equity release/reverse mortgage provider Household Capital has completed its first rated mortgage securitisation. HHC 2024-1 RMBS Trust is an AU$263m mortgage securitisation rated by Moody’s. The arranger and sole lead manager on the transaction was Citigroup Global Markets Australia.  “Our inaugural mortgage portfolio securitisation is a great outcome for Australian retirees and a big step forward in the evolution of Household Capital,” said Joshua Funder, Household Capital CEO.   “The quality of our customers and the low-risk nature of the mortgages we originate were critical in attracting local and global investors to sustainably scale retirement housing and funding and help…

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries has announced that Nicola Draper has been elected as an Honorary Fellow.  The election was confirmed by an online member vote in July 2024.  Draper was nominated for an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of her services to medicine and public health, including her service as Co-Chair of the Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group. She is a leading expert in public health and associated mortality, morbidity, and longevity risk. In 2007, she co-founded the firm Medical Intelligence, which now provides ongoing research and support to actuaries from many of the leading consultancies, pension, and insurance companies…

Asset managers Twelve Capital and Securis Investment Partners have announced their intention to merge. The two firms are active in the insurance-linked securities space, with both life and non-life exposures. The duo say that the merger will create a $7.8bn assets under management firm. The new firm will be led by Urs Ramseier, Co-Founder of Twelve Capital, who becomes Chief Executive Officer, with Herbie Lloyd, Chief Investment Officer of Securis, becoming CIO Private ILS and Head of UK and Bermuda. “We have always recognised Securis as an innovative and hugely respected business in the ILS market, and the combination of…