Life Settlement News

State insurance regulators Monday voted in favor of a proposal that would allow carriers to terminate an annuity living or death benefit if a client sold the contract over the secondary market.

Crump Life Insurance Services has purchased the assets of a life settlements company.

Life Partners Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq GS: LPHI), parent company of Life Partners, Inc., announced today that it has paid the $0.25 per share quarterly dividend to shareholders of record as of November 6, 2009 as previously announced.

Centurion Fund managers has obtained regulatory approval in Luxembourg for what it said is the first open-ended fund to combine macro and micro longevity life settlement exposure.

To elevate life settlement knowledge and expertise nationwide, Invescor, Ltd., in partnership with the National Underwriter Company, has launched the most authoritative and comprehensive online life settlement training program in the country.

Program Offers CE Credit, Addresses Broker-Dealer Firm Element Requirements

Four-day Event Draws Cross-continental Interests in Secondary Market

As interest in the life settlement industry climbs, two major trade groups unveil plans to host an international trade mission in Europe. In 2010, the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) and the European Life Settlement Association (ELSA) will convene the first-ever trade mission for life settlement professionals. The 2010 Life Settlement Trade Mission is scheduled to run from February 23rd to the 26th. The four-day mission opens in London with an overnight stop in Luxembourg and concludes in Zurich. Despite the lingering effects of a global economic crisis, the life settlement industry is experiencing renewed interest among financial professionals and lawmakers. A Life Settlement is the sale of an existing life insurance policy to a third party for more than its cash surrender value but less than its net death benefit. The market is commonly understood to be less correlated to the fluctuations of financial markets and therefore, highly attractive in difficult economic times.

New York’s state Legislature has passed a bill that would to regulate life settlements, requiring brokers and intermediaries to get their insurance licenses.

Fitch Ratings does not expect that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) efforts to address issues in its Risk Based Capital (RBC) formula related to downgraded residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) will ultimately have a material impact on Fitch’s analysis or the ratings of U.S. life insurance companies. While Fitch reviews the NAIC RBC ratio as part of its ratings analysis, Fitch believes its review of insurer capital strength will not be materially impacted by the adjustments expected by the NAIC because Fitch takes a multi-faceted approach to capital analysis as compared to that used by regulators.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings of Genworth Financial Inc.‘s (GNW or holdco) primary U.S. life insurance companies (GNW-Life) at ‘A-’. The Rating Outlook remains Negative. A full rating list is shown below. The affirmation follows an updated review of GNW’s investment exposures, capital position, liquidity and interim financial performance, and reflects Fitch’s view that these key ratings factors remain consistent with expectations for the current rating. Fitch notes that the company has taken a number of positive steps this year to improve its financial flexibility and strengthen its capital position, including the successful partial IPO of its Canadian mortgage insurance business for $705 million of proceeds, and a recently completed equity raise of $621 million.

Coventry announced the launch of Montgomery Portfolio Services today, providing institutional owners of longevity-linked portfolios with access to the industry’s leading servicing platform.