More Than A Number

The Washington Post reports that the Senate Special Committee on Aging is holding a hearing to analyze the life settlements industry, which has fared well despite the recession. Increasingly, people are turning their attention—and funds—away from the stock market and instead pursuing life settlements investment opportunities. Yet according to the Post, “regulators have accused members of the industry of engaging in a variety of harmful practices, such as scheming to depress the prices paid to policyholders and charging exorbitant commissions.”

But the Life Settlement Institute (LSI), one of the industry’s leading organizations representing secondary market providers for life insurance, isn’t fazed by the Senate’s recent interest in life settlements. In a press release, the LSI defended the integrity of the industry, saying that it “endorses the Committee’s interest in protecting seniors from secondary market participants and others who may not have seniors’ best interests in mind or engage in abusive, dishonest or fraudulent activities.” LSI President Brian Smith added, “We are encouraged that the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging has decided to review the life settlement industry. By looking into the secondary life insurance market, the Committee and Chairman Kohl are showing their concern for the protection of consumers from bad actors in the sector who undermine the benefits that life settlements provide to America’s seniors.”

The LSI also maintained that “in an increasingly diversified market, life settlements can be a sound financial option for many Americans who find themselves with unwanted or unneeded life insurance policies.”