2010 Outlook of Life Settlements and Various applications

This week I will be welcoming Chris Ledlie, managing partner at Opulen Capital. Chris will be discussing the outlook of Life Settlements in 2010 and then touch on some of the various applications that can come from a Life Settlement.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jerryiwanski/2010/02/09/2010-outlook-of-life-settlements-and-various-applications

Life insurers, life settlement group spar over securitization

A new policy statement from a life insurers’ group, suggesting that the securitization of life settlements needs to be regulated, has sparked a sharp response from a life settlement trade group.

http://ifawebnews.com/2010/02/09/life-insurers-life-settlement-group-spar-over-securitization/

ISI Defends Life Policy-Backed Securities Market

A life settlement think tank is defending the value of the life settlement securitization concept.
The American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, asked Feb. 3 for policymakers to ban the securitization of life insurance policies sold in the secondary market. Packaging pools of life settlement transactions to back securities encourages stranger-originated life insurance and other forms of fraud, the ACLI says.

The Insurance Studies Institute, Keystone, Colo., an organization that includes a number of life settlement industry veterans on its staff, board and advisory board, has issued a declaration charging that the intention of the ACLI — and of the life insurance industry — “appears to be destruction of a vibrant secondary market for life insurance.”

The ACLI statement is “a slap to all life insurance policyholders, particularly seniors,” the ISI says. “Public policymakers should insist that consumers purchasing life insurance deserve the option a secondary market may provide.”

Banning securitizations of life settlements would eliminate most capital from the secondary market, the ISI says.

“For the life insurance secondary market to stay vibrant for seniors, capital is needed, and capital markets require liquidity, thus the need for securitizations,” the ISI says.

The ISI has asked policymakers to reject an appeal from ACLI to ban sales of securitized life settlements.

“The vibrant secondary market for life insurance is pro-senior, pro-consumer and pro-government regulation,” the ISI says. “It needs protection.”

http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2010/2/Pages/ISI-Defends-Life-PolicyBacked-Securities-Market.aspx

Feature: Execs react to Goldman shuttering its settlement unit

http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/Exclusives/2010/2/Pages/Feature-Execs-react-to-Goldman-shuttering-its-settlement-unit.aspx

A Critique Of The February 3, 2010 Request By The ACLI To Ban Securitizations Of Life Insurance Settlements

http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=158883

Life Insurance Settlement Association Responds to Misleading ACLI Position on Life Settlements

http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=158565

Industry Failing to Communicate Value of Settlements, Study Says

Posted February 04, 2010 5:59PM PST

The life settlement industry is failing to communicate the value of life
settlements to seniors, a new study by the Insurance Studies Institute says.

The study, completed by the Carlson School of Management at the University
of Minnesota with the institute, said that settlements have been "positioned
to seniors in conflicting ways." The study said settlements have been
described in ways ranging from being a "valuable resource to seniors" to
"betting on death."

The report, "Increasing Awareness of Life Settlements," suggests ways that
the industry can improve its message about its product to seniors.

It concludes that seniors trust themselves the most when making financial
decisions, that the message needs to focus on the option of settlements
rather than the message that insurance companies are taking advantage of
them, that the message about the market needs to be delivered to more
advisers, and that settlements need to be positioned as an option for
"unwanted policies."

The study can be obtained at a cost of $2,500 by contacting the institute.

Longevity swap market could hit £20bn in 2010

http://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/1589184/longevity-swap-market-hit-gbp20bn-2009

Life Settlement Industry Shaken by Goldman Sachs Departure

http://technorati.com/business/finance/article/life-settlement-industry-shaken-by-goldman/

Insurance groups slam Obama¹s budget proposal

http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100204/FREE/100209902/0/STATIC