ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Investors purchased $1.7 billion worth of U.S. life insurance face value in 2015 and growing consumer interest in life settlements is a positive indicator for the future of the industry, reported a leading industry analyst at the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA)’s 22nd Annual Fall Life Settlement & Compliance Conference.
Scott Hawkins, vice president and director of insurance research at Conning & Co., shared data and analysis from Conning’s just-released Life Settlements Market Review and Forecast. Conning annually publishes a market review describing the current issues facing life settlement investors -- as well as market participants -- and a forecast of projected market growth. Hawkins reported that the total dollar value of life settlement transactions last year was approximately the same as those completed in 2014 ($1.7 billion) and identified six key drivers for the future of the industry, including the positive trend that consumer demand is increasing as American seniors become more familiar with the life settlement option.
The LISA conference was held October 16th-18th at the scenic Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. The conference theme was “Shaping the Future” and was opened by Cyndi Poveda, chairman of the LISA Board of Directors.
“There’s a lot to like about the life settlement business right now,” said Poveda. “We have a maturing industry with some wind at our backs and we’re seeing additional investment entering the asset class as a result.” Poveda encouraged industry participants to be focused on the long term as they evolve their business models to accommodate the projected growth in life settlement transactions in the years ahead.
“There are a number of institutions looking at the life settlement industry right now as a place to pursue attractive investment returns in an historically low-yield environment,” said Darwin M. Bayston, CFA, president and chief executive officer of LISA. “Moreover, we have tremendous upside opportunity in the years ahead, as more than 8 in 10 seniors are still unaware they can sell their life insurance policies.”
The keynote address at the conference was delivered by Barry M. Goldwater, Jr., a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California who served in Congress from 1969 to 1983. He is the son of the late Barry Goldwater, a former U.S. Senator from Arizona who was the Republican nominee in the 1964 presidential election. Goldwater addressed the current political and regulatory climate in the U.S. today and encouraged members of the industry to pro-actively communicate with elected officials in order to ensure the integrity and health of the life settlement marketplace.
LISA’s 2016 Fall Conference featured a lineup of several influential speakers who addressed timely issues impacting the industry, including:
- Seth Ard, partner at Susman Godfrey LLP, provided an in-depth review of class action litigation related to Cost of Insurance (COI) rate increases imposed by many carriers on life insurance policies;
- Vince Granieri, chief executive officer of Predictive Resources LLC, reviewed the 2015 Valuation Basic Tables (VBT) and their implications for life settlement portfolio management;
- Maggie O’Gara, senior counsel for GWG Life, addressed a variety of compliance and business issues related to direct-to-consumer marketing of life settlements;
- Nancy B. Rapoport, Garman Turner Gordon Professor of Law at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) William S. Boyd School of Law, discussed the importance of market integrity as a key to growth of the life settlement industry; and
- Jeffrey Bollerman, director of the illiquid financial assets practice at Houlihan Lokey, provided an update on the condition of the tertiary market for life settlements.
The main conference was preceded by a one-day Compliance Track for compliance professionals and attorneys, which featured important updates on new laws, as well as recent and pending litigation.
LISA conferences are widely regarded as the gold standard for professional events in the life settlement industry. For more information, please go to http://www.lisa.org/lisa-events.
About the Life Insurance Settlement Association
The Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) is the nation’s oldest and largest organization representing participants in the life settlement Industry, with a current membership of more than 90 companies doing business in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The mission of LISA is to promote the development, integrity and reputation of the life settlement industry, to advance the highest standards of practice and professional development for the industry, and to educate consumers and advisors about a life settlement as an alternative to lapse or surrender of a life insurance policy. For more information, visit www.lisa.org.