TY - JOUR T1 - The Life Settlement Market is an Opportunity JF - The Journal of Structured Finance SP - 46 LP - 49 DO - 10.3905/jsf.2006.644158 VL - 12 IS - 2 AU - Tom Bakos AU - Kiri Parankirinathan Y1 - 2006/07/31 UR - https://pm-research.com/content/12/2/46.abstract N2 - Life settlements provide life insurance policy owners a viable alternative to surrendering the life policy. The authors address the misunderstandings of many early entrants regarding the inner workings of life insurance products, the terminology, and the applicability of certain actuarial assumptions. The authors point out that insurance companies, rather than portraying life settlement transactions as an attack on policyholder equity, ought to take more responsibility in creating a disciplined and orderly secondary market for life insurance policies that can benefit their policyholders. A mature life settlement market—with attention paid to consumer needs, a technically correct understanding of the risks, responsible pricing, and maintenance of high ethical standards—will thrive and every participant will be well served. Who is better equipped to do this than the insurance companies?TOPICS: Other real assets, exchanges/markets/clearinghouses, credit risk management ER -