Longevity risk from the perspective of the ILS markets

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts the evolution of the longevity risk transfer market with the development of the Catastrophe Bond Market, more formally known as the Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) Market. The ILS market is small; the longevity market is potentially enormous. The ILS market has been around for some 15 years; the Longevity market less than 5 years. The ILS market has had a heterogeneous approach to loss measures; the longevity market has striven for homogeneity. The ILS market has used security, i.e. bond, structures; the longevity market uses derivative, i.e. swap, structures. Nearly all ILS transactions cover event risk; nearly all longevity structures are aggregate. The paper reflects on these and other differences and speculates on the nature of the two approaches. © 2011 The International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics.