Congress Should Define Life Settlements as Securities, SEC Report Says
The Life Settlements Report
By Dealflow Media
A report by a Securities and Exchange Commission task force issued today said the commission should consider recommending that Congress amend its definition of securities to include life settlements.
The SEC task force also recommended that commission staff should continue monitoring life settlement brokers and providers to ensure that they’re meeting legal standards of conduct, and that SEC staff should monitor the development of a securitization market for life settlements.
Commentary by Michael Abraham:
Is this a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Some would say so. Certainly the SEC is known to be heavy handed and this business is not really as big as some would have you believe, it just receives a disproportionate amount of media coverage. However, to have one rule for all states would certainly make things simpler. The underlying problem is that all regulators so far have just taken previous legislation and to their minds amended/improved it. What they have actually achieved is to legalise the payment of large levels of unnecessary commissions which penalise the insured! This is one of the times when they should review the simplicity of the secondary policy regulations of their ‘junior partner’!
Published on 16 Aug 2010 at 06:07 am
