A new organization of institutional investors participating in the life settlement marketplace is striving for greater transparency as one of the principles that it will advocate going forward, according to a representative.
The Institutional Life Markets Association, based in New York, wants "greater transactional transparency" of costs and fees, particularly at the front end of the transaction involving the consumer, according to ILMA representative Jack Kelly.
ILMA's founding members include: Bear Stearns & Co. Inc.; Credit Suisse; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Mizuho International plc; UBS AG; and WestLB AG. The founding members' inaugural meeting took place on March 22, 2007.
In an ILMA release, the organization said, "ILMA's members believe that the development of the longevity and mortality market is crucial to addressing the interests of an aging population in which retirement is increasingly financed by personal savings rather than by defined benefit pension plans."
In addition to transparency, the organization also lists other "guiding principles" including suitability, consumer choice, fiduciary duty of consumer advisors, an insurable interest principle, identity protection for insureds and marketplace education.
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