New York Life Settlement Fees

This is positive news…

Bowing to pressure from the life settlement industry, the New York State Insurance Department has cut the licensing fee it will charge providers from $20,000 to $10,000.

Settlement industry representatives had objected to the $20,000 fee, which was proposed by Insurance Department Superintendent James Wrynn in a draft of emergency regulations to put New York’s new life settlement law into effect. Licensing fees charged by other states generally range from $500 to $1,000.

New York officials lowered the fee in the final version of the emergency regulations published Friday, after hearing complaints from settlement industry representatives.

Licensing fees and biennial fees of $40 for brokers remained the same from the earlier draft proposal.

Source: Regulations

Running from November 8-10, LISA’s 15th Annual Fall Conference garnered an attendance in excess of three hundred. In an economy slow to recover, the success of such a crowd was a stark reminder that interest in life settlements among investors and consumers remains as vibrant as ever. “We’re extremely pleased with not only the size of this year’s turnout — given ongoing economic hardships — but the depth and diversity of our attendees this year exceeded all expectations,” remarked Doug Head, LISA Executive Director. “We’re seeing a significantly higher level of understanding of this industry among financial professionals. This was reflected in the quality of presentation and dialogue at this year’s fall meeting.”

What you can look forward to: an estimated 500 attendees, expert-driven analysis, industry research and collaborative forums for dialogue and presentation. Your personal business interests are our high priority.

More info:
15th Annual Life Settlement Conference

In a recent interview with Best Wire, Maynard Cooper attorney Andrew Kitchen said STOLI litigation will increase as insurers audit their books to weed out alleged STOLI policies. Kitchen went on to tell Best Wire that these case will be challenging in terms of proving the intent on the part of the insured in alleged STOLI cases. Many in the legal and insurance community are watching cases in Florida, in particular the approach Maynard Cooper has deployed there.

Designed for insurance companies and attorneys, this fully accredited teleconference will address the following questions, plus additional questions raised during a live Q&A: How do you know what STOLI is? Can you get it off your books? Can you prevent it? What does the Florida Insurance Department report mean for the industry and what is next? How is STOLI litigation changing STOLI and the life settlement market? How to thwart efforts of promoters and investors are getting smarter and designing innovative and ingenious schemes to thwart efforts to stop them. How can STOLI claims be identified? What are the legal options to rescind the policies?

To register or learn more about this conference, call HB Litigation Conferences at 484-324-2755, email the company at info@litigationconferences.com, or visit the teleconferences section at www.litigationconferences.com. For more information on Maynard Cooper & Gale, visit www.mcglaw.com.

For those life settlement companies and professionals who would like to increase their exposure and crediblity, read this post about a directory listing:
Directory Listing Campaign

Investment in life insurance policies are recorded in accordance the Financial Accounting Standards Board Staff Position No. FTB 85-4-1 Accounting for Life Settlement Contracts by Third-Party Investors (FSP FTB 85-4-1). FSP FTB 85-4-1 states that an investor may elect to account for its investments in life settlement contracts using either the investment method or the fair value method. The election shall be made on an instrument-by instrument basis and is irrevocable. Under the investment method, an investor shall recognize the initial investment at the purchase price plus all initial direct costs. Continuing costs (policy premiums and direct external costs, if any) to keep the policy in force shall be capitalized. Under the fair value method, an investor shall recognize the initial investment at the purchase price. In subsequent periods, the investor shall remeasure the investment at fair value in its entirety at each reporting period and shall recognize change in fair value earnings (or other performance indicators for entities that do not report earnings) in the period in which the changes occur. The Company has elected to value its investments in life settlement contracts using the investment method.

Investors may also be interested in: Internation Society of Life Settlement Professionals

Life Partners Holdings, Inc. to Begin Trading on NASDAQ Global Select Market

Read article: Life Partners to begin trading on NASDAQ Global

Life Partners, which began publicly trading on the OTC Market in 2000, is the world’s oldest and one of the most active companies in the United States engaged in the secondary market for life insurance policies, commonly called “life settlements”. Since its incorporation in 1991, Life Partners has completed over 84,000 transactions for its worldwide client base of over 20,000 high net worth individuals and institutions in connection with the purchase of over 6,000 policies totaling over $1.7 billion in face value.

This is good news for the Life Settlement Industry, and a good call to action from Mr. Fasano. The recent changes in mortality and life expectancy reports put a strain on the industry. Not just for current policies that offered on but on previously purchased policies where investors may have to recalculate their investments.

The head of a Washington, D.C., underwriting firm is calling for more transparency among life expectancy underwriters.

Michael Fasano, the president of Fasano Associates, made the call proposing best practices standards for life expectancy underwriters during his company’s fifth annual life settlement conference. Fasano Associates serves the life, health, and life settlement industries.

Fasano called on the underwriters to retain qualified, independent actuarial firms to conduct regular analyses of actual to expected accuracy in a standardized format to allow more meaningful comparisons among professionals.

“We need more transparency in our industry if we expect to attract investment capital,” Fasano said in a statement. “Life expectancy underwriters have taken a lot of criticism recently – some legitimate and some not. But for our industry to move forward, we have to put our performance out there for review. Investors simply will not tolerate a secretive attitude any longer.”

Other speakers at the conference included Alan Buerger, CEO of Fort Washington, Pa.-based Coventry and Michael Barone, senior writer at U.S. News & World Report and a Fox News political analyst.

21st announced yesterday, at their Annual Investor Subcommittee conference, that they will be using new mortality tables which will be more reflective of real world life expectancies. Jack Ketter is showing that 21st Services is making a long term commitment to the industry.

As a result of the implementation of these new tables to their life expectancy underwriting, 21st Services will effectively lengthen their life expectancy determinations. We will have to see how quickly this will effect current offers, pending bids, and current policies in pricing.

We have also yet to confirm if LEs purchased in the last say 30-60 days will be updated to the new mortality tables without an additional charge.

We will keep everyone updated as these changes are completed.

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)

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

Call 1-888-973-8377 to speak with a Life Settlement Professional.