Smart investment bankers - the type who managed to turn catastrophe risk into an investment-grade asset class - should be eyeing up the fruits of litigation reform in the UK. By Christopher Stoakes
On December 28 1998, JG Wentworth, a Philadelphia-based investment bank, announced that it had sold $1.1 billion of structured settlement-backed notes in an institutional private placement. The issue was rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Duff & Phelps.
Structured settlements are familiar to lawyers and, in particular, those who specialize in personal injury. Under the terms of such a settlement, the successful plaintiff receives an income stream over the rest of his or her life, by way of an annuity from an insurance company. The annuity is bought by the defendant - usually the insurer of whoever was responsible for the injury. The annuity ensures that the plaintiff is put in funds to pay for long-term medical and other care.
Structured settlements are often adopted for large awards, for hospital negligence, for example. Wentworth, which has already bought over $5 billion of deferred structured settlement receivables since it started in 1992, turns these income streams back into capital for plaintiffs whose lives have changed and now need lump sums.