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 Market?
Pension superfunds were seen as the saviour of under-funded defined benefit plans in the UK, but progress has been slow and stymied by both a lack of investment and delayed legislation. Samantha Downes spoke to Will Griffiths, Director at WTW, Iain Pearce, Partner and Head of Alternative Risk Transfer at Hymans Robertson and Simon True, CEO at Clara-Pensions, to get the lowdown on the space in Pension Superfund Outlook Unclear Amidst Trustee To-Do List, Legislative Delays.
With liabilities being lower than assets, Irish defined benefit pension funds looked set to accelerate their journey towards a bulk purchase annuity solution, but regulation has given them pause. Aaron Woolner spoke to John Lynch, Partner at Lane, Clark & Peacock, to find out what’s going on in Regulation Putting the Brakes on Ireland Pension Risk Transfer Market Activity – for Now.
US life expectancy at birth is 77.6 years, one of the lowest among 38 member states of the Organisation of Economically Developed Nations. A new paper from The Research and Action Institute at the Association of American Medical Colleges suggests that eliminating firearms, drugs and alcohol-related deaths could improve the data and so Aaron Woolner covered the main points from the piece in New Paper Suggests Vices, Firearms Knock 1.6 Years Off US Life Expectancy.
New technological advances to meet key healthcare needs are a crucial element driving the performance profile of the healthcare sector. Most recently, obesity drugs have dominated the headlines, but this is an opportunity that has been on many investors’ radar for some time. Chris Eccles, Portfolio Manager at AXA Investment Managers, explains more in The Five Key Developments Set To Drive Healthcare Returns, a guest article.
New analysis by consulting firm Lane, Clark & Peacock (LCP) of the new Projections Life Table AG2024, produced by the Royal Dutch Actuarial Association, finds that life expectancy assumptions are significantly higher than plausible alternative projections. Stuart McDonald, Partner & Head of Longevity and Demographic Insights at LCP explains in more detail in How Wrong Is Your Mortality Projection Model?, our second guest article this month.
The influx of private equity money delivers considerable benefits to the Asian life sector, which is experiencing an unprecedented wave of regulatory change. Matthew Rose, Managing Director, Practice Leader Life & Health, Asia Pacific and Victor Hai, Senior Vice President, Life & Health, Asia Pacific at Guy Carpenter dig into the trend in Private Equity’s Reshaping of the Asian Life Sector Has Further To Run, October 2024’s final guest article.
This year has, thus far, delivered another year of frenzied activity in the UK’s bulk purchase annuity market. So, Greg Winterton spoke to Swapnil Katkar, Partner at EY, to get his thoughts on the current state of the space, and his views on the outlook for the next 12-18 months, in this month’s Q&A.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) financial year runs from 1st October to 30th September, so another 12 months is now in the books for the primary US reverse mortgage market. And, for many, it is yet another one to forget. Greg Winterton spoke to Michael McCully, Partner at New View Advisors, to get his views on what might get the market moving again in A Tough Year for US Reverse Mortgage Origination but Recent Rate Cut Provides Optimism.
I hope you enjoy the latest issue of Life Risk News.
Chris Wells
Managing Editor
Life Risk News