One aspect of the life insurance industry, Life Settlement Backed Securities, are beginning to spread from America to the UK.
The policies, also known as death bonds, refer to the process whereby elderly Americans sell their life insurance policy to an investment company. This company then pays the premium until the person dies.
This aspect of the industry has a shady past, because it is basically banking on death. One expert in the industry, Phillip Loy, reportedly commented: "Insurance companies want a person to live longer than the company estimates. We, on the other hand, want the person to die before their life expectancy."
British investors are now buying up death bonds from provider companies such as American Viatical Services. London investment firms, hedge funds, banks and institutional investors are making the bonds part of their investment portfolios. Many investors continue to regard the bonds as too macabre.




