Morgan Stanley and UBS have joined the Life & Longevity Markets Association as full members.
They join original members Axa, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Legal & General, Pension Corporation, Prudential, RBS and Swiss Re.
The LLMA was formed to promote the development of a liquid traded market in longevity and mortality-related risk, of the type that exists for insurance linked securities, and other large trend risks like interest rates and inflation.
Since launch the association has been involved in the development of consistent standards, methodologies and benchmarks to help build a liquid trading market.
It aims to launch a consultation period for its index methodology during Q3 2010.
Chris Watts, vice president, UK pensions solutions group at Morgan Stanley, says: "Morgan Stanley welcomes the formation of the LLMA and is delighted to be joining the association. We are passionate about broadening the range of capital markets based hedging tools available to both pension funds and insurance companies. The LLMA’s aim of developing the market in longevity and mortality risk transfer is an important development and we welcome the opportunity to be at the forefront of this initiative."
Guy Coughlan, chair of the LLMA technical committee and managing director for the pension advisory group at J.P. Morgan, adds: “We welcome Morgan Stanley and UBS to membership of the LLMA. The admission of these two leading financial institutions as members demonstrates the increasing momentum in this field, and further supports us in our efforts to deliver a true longevity market. As an association we are working hard to set standards in this field, and I look forward to some significant future announcements in this area.”
