Life Settlement News

Amendments to Ohio’s Viatical Settlement Act will limit stranger-originated life insurance transactions and give the state’s insurance department additional oversight authority. New legislation requires brokers and providers to give more information to insurers and to report STOLI transactions to the state’s insurance department.

State Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson said state legislators “recognize a shared responsibility of the life-settlement industry, life insurance companies and the department to protect consumers against STOLI transactions.”

Previous post regarding Ohio Life Settlements here at Life Settlement News:
Ohio Life Settlement Bill

Source: News-Messenger (Fremont, Ohio), The (07/01)

Briefly read over this STOLI complaint by AXA in Florida. Looks like the carriers are shutting down all forms of “Wet Paper Life Settlements” and “Immediate Settlements”.

Read full article:
AXA Files $73m STOLI Complaint in Florida

Thanks to Life Settlement Fraud

It looks like Life Settlement Solutions is again leading the pack in Life Settlement Education and learning programs.

I read a brief article that stated LSS would be offering access to one of the first continuing education courses certified in all 50 states. Made possible through a partnership between Life Settlement Solutions and an insurance continuing education provider, WebCE, the course could count for up to eight credit hours of life insurance licensing continuing education. It covers the life settlement transaction process, working with a broker or provider, and how to begin working with life settlements.

I haven’t full information about how the CE program would work, but when we get updates they will be posted here at Life Settlement News.

More Life Settlement Education:
Life Settlement Information
Life Settlement Conference
Life Settlement Magazine

Life settlements might seem like an unconventional asset class – but an Australian fund manager claims the sector poses a fresh set of opportunities for local insto investors.

Investing in life settlements, particularly in the US, involves buying out life insurance policies and according to Asset Life responsible manager Ron Board, is experiencing a boom similar to that of the reverse mortgage market.

“Many US baby boomers are getting to an age where they would like to access the equity they have in their life insurance policies. Unfortunately, should they seek to cash in the policies they receive only a fraction of what the policy is worth,” said Board.

This in turn, has led to the creation of a secondary market for the policies, claims Board.

“While life settlement is very much an untried market for most Australian investors it has attracted billions of dollars of investment from around the world.”

The Queensland based firm has developed a protocol to enter the $160 billion US life settlements market. The firm believes that life settlements present an alternative investment platform for institutional investors looking to diversify following jitters in traditional asset classes.

“Asset Life, through our US structure, has access to large volumes of policies that they can target in order to meet the purchasing parameters of investors,” he said.

Source: Financial Standard

Strickland signs life insurance settlement bill.

A measure that tightens state law governing the method of buying life insurance policies from consumers will take effect in September after garnering Gov. Ted Strickland’s signature Wednesday.

Strickland’s OK was the final hurdle for H.B. 404, which amends the Ohio Viatical Settlement Act and is aimed at improving protections for those looking to sell a policy to a third party through a so-called life insurance settlement.

The Ohio Department of Insurance and others backed the bill because of a perceived increase in settlements arranged for financial gain, but industry opponents claimed the bill overregulated the process.

Life insurance settlements involve buying an individual’s life policy for less than its face value, taking over premium payments until the death of the insured and then collecting the full payout. A viatical settlement specifically involves the terminally ill or elderly selling a policy to pay medical bills or other expenses.

The measure also creates a framework to restrict what’s called “stranger-oriented” life insurance. That practice involves an investor persuading someone to buy a policy with the understanding that the investor will take it over after a state-mandated two-year waiting period.

One provision of the amended law, which goes into effect in 90 days, extends that period to five years, primarily in cases not between family members. The new law also requires parties to provide additional settlement-related information to insurers before closing the deal. Insurers must ask specific questions to identify the stranger-oriented transactions and then report them to the insurance department.

Insurance department Director Mary Jo Hudson on Wednesday called the bill a major step toward creating a shared responsibility among the life settlement industry, insurers and the state department.

“I strongly believe that this change to Ohio law will deter (stranger-oriented) transactions from occurring in Ohio,” Hudson said in a statement.

Source: Business First

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