Fasano Calls For More Transparency at its 7th Annual Life Settlement Conference

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In his opening remarks to over 200 industry participants attending Fasano’s 7th Annual Life Settlement Conference, Michael Fasano, President of Fasano Associates, called for more transparency from life settlement intermediaries.

“We should not minimize the real differences that continue to exist among Life Expectancy underwriters and we should be willing to present Actual to Expected experience based on the actual life expectancy estimates given to our clients, and not limit our disclosures to hypothetical results based on adjusted estimates.”
.Fasano described the industry as being at a crossroads as new sources of capital evaluate historically high rates of return. Said Fasano: “We should not minimize the real differences that continue to exist among Life Expectancy underwriters and we should be willing to present Actual to Expected experience based on the actual life expectancy estimates given to our clients, and not limit our disclosures to hypothetical results based on adjusted estimates.”

Fasano added: “Most importantly, intermediaries must stop the practice of only sharing shorter LEs with their clients or, as bad, only ordering LEs from those underwriters who are known to produce shorter LEs. LEs should be ordered and disclosed based on who is believed to be most accurate, not who is the shortest.”

Fasano was followed by Coventry CEO, Alan Buerger, who predicted that, ultimately, life settlements would be accepted by the life insurance industry, but that in the meantime, the industry needs to fight back against those in the life insurance industry who have tried to thwart legitimate secondary market transactions.

Tim Roberts, CEO of Catalyst Investments, talked about the need for transparency, accountability and good regulations for life settlements and argued that life settlements were no more complex than equity investments and, if done properly, appropriate for retail investors.

Cormac Treanor of Wilton Re explained the reasons for the Absence of a Developed Market in Extension Risk Protection, while Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ partner, Larry Rubin, covered the elements of valuing life settlements in portfolio audits.

Additional presentations were made by Tom Weinberger, Partner of Strook & Strook & Lavan, Franz Schmidpeter, Managing Director of Augur Capital, Hasham Malik, Chief Capital Markets Officer of Peachtree Settlement Funding, and Dr. David Vaughan, Chief Medical Director of Fasano Associates.

Fox News Analyst, Michael Barone, ended the Conference with his views on the likely impact on financial markets of the upcoming mid-term elections.

About Fasano Associates:

Fasano Associates is a leading underwriting consulting firm serving the life, health and life settlement industries