Life Settlements

Ireland continues to lead the way in offering innovative financial services solutions for investment structures. Recognised as a global hub for investment funds, Ireland has an established investment funds industry with over €1.88 trillion worth of investment fund assets administered in Ireland.1 Ireland has also firmly established itself as a location of choice for the establishment of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for structured finance transactions.

Dear All,

It is an exciting time to be taking on the task of chairing the European Life Settlement Association (ELSA). I’ve been with the organisation since the early days, watching it grow, and growing with it. It is great to see such encouraging developments taking place.

My predecessor, Patrick McAdams, Investment Director of SL Investment Management, has done a fantastic job with ELSA. My aim is to build on that and take us forward.

Sven Kuhlbrodt, global sales director at PDL International, says the life settlement market is misunderstood by many and advisers should take a fresh look as the sector can offer investors significant advantages.

As an asset class, life settlements have not had an easy introduction to the UK marketplace and high-profile mistakes have been made with how they have been communicated and sold.

However, these issues have not been down to the product. The asset class itself remains a good one, offering unique benefits to investors.

They utilise exactly the same principles as an annuity.

Until the Keydata collapse not much was written about Life Settlements, which is odd given that the underlying problems with the Keydata issue are nothing to do with the asset class itself.

Life settlements are not new and have actually been around for a while - nearly 100 years to be precise. What is new is the number of recent market entrants trying to promote something perceived as new, with relatively little substance behind them.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently ruled on the parties’ motions for summary judgment in Settlement Funding, LLC v. AXA Equitable Life Ins. Co., No. 09 CV 8685 (HB) (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 29, 2010), holding that egregious facts may permit an insurer’s rescission of a life policy after expiration of the policy’s two-year incontestability period. Plaintiff Settlement Funding, the assignee of a $5 million insurance policy on the life of Esther Adler, sought summary judgment on its claim for recovery of insurance proceeds following Ms.

The specialist asset manager said the asset class was appealing because of its low correlation, low volatility and returns of nine to ten per cent, however it required sophisticated investors.

Life Settlements funds operate by buying the legal rights to multiple US life policies, paying policy premiums and generating a return by collecting the entire death benefit of the policy upon the death of the insured.

SL Investment said the lack of a standard valuation base meant it was very difficult to compare one fund with another.

European Life Settlement Market Comes of Age
Trade Association Launched to Represent Eur9.5bn Asset Class
Europe’s life settlement industry officially comes of age today with the launch of its
new trade body, the European Life Settlement Association (ELSA). The association
has been established to promote highest standards, and to educate and inform retail
and institutional investors seeking assets that are uncorrelated with equities and
unaffected by volatility in global markets. The launch of ELSA follows a survey of

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.”