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Conestoga International Adopts New Life Expectancy Protocol For Life Settlements
[May 29, 2013]

Conestoga International Adopts New Life Expectancy Protocol For Life Settlements


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico --(Business Wire)--

Michael McDermott, President of Conestoga International, LLC, has announced that the company has changed its protocol for determining life expectancies on life settlement policies purchased by the Conestoga Settlement Trust, and made available as fractional interests to accredited investors.

Conestoga made the decision to re-evaluate its life expectancy protocol as a result of the recent turmoil in the life expectancy prediction industry:

  • 21st Services, Inc., a recognized life expectancy provider, recently announced that it had made yet another major change in its methodology
  • AVS (News - Alert), another recognized life expectancy provider, filed for bankruptcy
  • Numerous lawsuits and regulatory actions have been filed against other life settlement companies for allegedly manipulating life expectancies

These developments and a corporate commitment to constantly strive to improve its product caused Conestoga to search for a more stable methodology to establish life expectancies for itsportfolio of life settlement polices.

Conestoga no longer relies solely on predictions from licensed life expectancy providers. Rather, on all policies purchased for the portfolio and made available as fractional interests in life settlements to accredited investors, Conestoga includes life expectancies from the Social Security Administration Tables, based only on age and gender statistics of longevity, without adjusting due to the impaired health of the insureds.

"Although, this results in considerably longer life expectancies than companies who rely on underwritten life expectancies exclusively, and requires that Conestoga escrow funds to pay premiums for longer periods of time, it was deemed necessary to offer life settlements that could better meet the expectations of our clients," said Mr. McDermott.


"The life expectancy prediction industry has proven itself time-and-again to be an untested and imprecise science, at best.

"It is in the long-term interests of our clients to protect the value of life settlements based upon the stability of life expectancy tables from the Social Security Administration - tables based upon actual, irrefutable results, rather than relying solely upon the constantly changing underwriting methodologies offered by recognized life expectancy providers."

Conestoga was already a leader in the industry in its handling of life expectancies prior to this announcement. By designating funds necessary to pay premiums for up to three years beyond underwritten life expectancies, Conestoga set a new standard for protection against premium calls in the life settlement industry.

Conestoga was created in 2010, with the goal to offer the safest and most transparent life settlements in the industry. Conestoga makes available fractional interests in life settlements to accredited investors in forty-seven states in the US, and abroad, from a portfolio of policies owned by the Conestoga Settlement Trust, currently valued at more than $100 Million.


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