Centurion presents on evaluating risk in life settlement funds at the Insurance Linked Securities Europe Summit 2010
David Rawson-Mackenzie, founder and managing director of Centurion Group, spoke at the 2nd Insurance Linked Securities European Summit in London on evaluating risk in life settlement funds. Mr. Rawson-Mackenzie addressed the importance of both knowing and understanding each of the four key risks that need to be faced: origination, liquidity, legal structure and financial & longevity. He also addressed the increasing use of synthetic swaps to manage liquidity and set out a crib sheet for investors and investment advisers looking at life settlements funds as part of a well balanced alternatives portfolio

Investment strategies to protect pension fund assets
Centurion recently co-sponsored a seminar with Credit Suisse to discuss investment strategies to protect Pension Funds' assets and how to control and manage risk. Speaking at the seminar, which was organised in London by SPS Conferences, Gary Flowers gave an overview of how to use longevity products to mitigate extended longevity risk and explained the advantages and disadvantages of different micro longevity products.

Centurion co-sponsors Insurance Linked Securities Summit
Centurion was a co-sponsor of IQPC's first European Insurance Linked Securities Summit held in London on 29-30 April 2009 together with Coventry and Credit Suisse. David Rawson-Mackenzie also co-presented with Credit Suisse and AA Partners on Innovations in Synthetic Longevity Products, where he gave an overview of the different physical and synthetic micro longevity products available to investors and how they can be used in life settlement portfolios.

Rawson-Mackenzie at the 2009 Life Settlement Investment Conference
Centurion Fund Managers (CFM) shared a platform with Goldman Sachs on Evaluating Synthetic Longevity Products at the 2009 Life Settlement Investments Conference organised by IGlobal Forum in New York on March 18th 2009. Speaking at the conference, David Rawson-Mackenzie, managing director of CFM, provided an in depth overview of micro longevity swaps and how fund managers can use those instruments to mitigate risks. There are two basic types of swaps. The policy linked longevity swaps mirror a life settlement transaction and allow the investor to gain exposure to micro longevity. A customised longevity swap is similar but it allows the fund manager to select what features they want the policies to have. By using a customised swap, the investor can reduce the credit risk and has the ability to balance the exposure to the different LE underwriters.

Centurion Fund Managers in the 5th Insurance Linked Securities Summit
David Rawson-Mackenzie, managing director of Centurion Fund Managers, spoke at the 5th Insurance Linked Securities Summit held in New York. In his presentation, Rawson-Mackenzie highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of using synthetics in a Life Settlement Open-Ended fund. "Synthetics are seen as providing greater liquidity and are a "comfort factor" for institutional investors", explained Rawson-Mackenzie. "However, they provide a lower yield compared to physical policies and there is a lack of counterparties to make the market more transparent", he added. As an investment management tool, synthetic life settlements allow the fund manager to better manage the exposure to LE underwriters, the exposure to longevity risk and credit risk and they provide leverage to the structure. Centurion Fund Managers first started looking at the longevity asset class in 2001 and it launched the first life settlement fund in 2002. It has now four open-ended mutual funds regulated in Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom. In 2007, Centurion Fund Managers closed its first synthetic transaction and it has bought close to 500 physical policies in the last seven years.

Rawson-Mackenzie speaks at the 3rd Insurance Linked Securities Summit
At the 3rd Insurance Linked Securities Summit held in New York at the end of January, David Rawson-Mackenzie, CEO of Centurion Fund Managers spoke about the merits of life settlements as an asset class in an investment portfolio. "Life settlements are a lucrative choice for investors because they are a non-market correlated bond-like asset class." he said. However, he cautioned investors when selecting which fund to invest in. "You need to ensure that the fund has a large enough portfolio of policies to minimise any deviation from the expected performance of the fund as the accuracy of the rate of return depends on the number of policies held."