And Death Shall Have No Dominion: Life Settlements and the Ethic of Profiting from Mortality

"And death shall have no dominion: Life settlements and the ethics of profiting from mortality" was published on Monday 7 July 2008. The report is the first major independent study of the ethics of investing in US life settlements (also known as traded life policies or TLPs). It analyses the potential benefits of this secondary market for policyholders wishing to sell and for investors seeking to diversify risk but it also raises concerns over current inconsistencies in the regulation of the market. It concludes that there would appear to be no particular ethical issues associated with investing in this asset class that distinguish it from well-established pensions and life market investments, which are also based on mortality projections, provided that products and processes are fully transparent to all parties, including the original policyholder and the end investor, and provided that the privacy of the policyholder is safeguarded.