The European Life Settlement Association (ELSA) elected new officers for the coming year at its Annual General Meeting in London on Tuesday 8 March. Alec Taylor, Portfolio Executive of SL Investment Management, was elected as Chair of ELSA. Rory O’Connell, CFO and Chief Credit Officer at Emergent Capital, was confirmed as ELSA Secretary and Jim Ray, Investment Analyst of SL Investment Management, was elected ELSA Treasurer.

Members of the Executive were also elected: Simon Erritt, Managing Director of Coventry Capital; Mike Fasano, President and CEO of Fasano Associates; Brian Casey, Partner at Locke Lord; Jule Rousseau, Partner at Arent Fox and Bill Corry, Owner of Corry Capital Advisors.

Following on the success of 2015’s joint conference with BVZL in London, the associations will again co-host their annual life settlement summit, this time in Munich, on September 26, 2016.

Alec Taylor, Chair, said, ‘ELSA ‘s mission remains challenging. Over the coming year we need to work together to:
1. Bring increased investor protection through wider industry understanding of the long term benefits of the ELSA Code of Practice.
2. Influence the life settlement industry to continue to adopt practices of transparency and self-regulation.
3. Represent members’ interests in discussions on the development of the UK secondary annuity market.
4. Grow ELSA’s membership, welcoming those new members that are eager to embrace the responsibilities of our Code of Practice.
5. Work with European Regulators to facilitate an effective and vibrant market place.
6. Continue to educate the wider investment community on the attributes of the asset class, and to overcome residual hostility that continues to tarnish the reputation of life settlements.

ELSA plans to make clear the increasing relevance of life settlements as an asset class, especially at a time of continuing global economic turbulence and investor quest for secure assets that can deliver real investor returns. We need to work in close collaboration with LISA, ILMA and BVZL in achieving this.

ELSA welcomes six new members: Corry Capital, Emergent Capital, Life Equity, Arthur Cox, Wilmington Trust and BroadRiver, at today’s sixth Annual General Meeting, and I am very much looking forward to working with all our members and our new Officers\Executive during 2016.

I am sure we all agree that Simon Erritt has made an outstanding contribution as Chair to our association, and I would personally like to extend my gratitude to Simon, the ELSA Officers, PWCL and all ELSA members for bringing the association to where it is today.

I will do my best to build on Simon’s work. And, whilst I hope that all our members continue to participate in the work of our Committees and in the organisation of our education, regulatory and PR Outreach work, I am
very interested in receiving views on how the association can operate more effectively. I would encourage you to contact me direct to provide any input you have on this.

In terms of events planned for 2016. We plan two symposia this year:

– The first at EY Canary Wharf offices on May 23rd focusing on COI challenges.
– The second possibly in Dublin in December.

On September 26th we look forward to our third joint European Summit with BVZL in Munich.

In accepting the challenges as ELSA’s Chair, I am reassured by the fact that my colleague Patrick McAdams was its first Chair back in 2010 and that SL was a key player in ELSA’s conception and birth. I work closely with Patrick at SL’s offices, and I am sure Patrick will be keen to continue in his role as an ambassador for the asset class, and be involved in future development of the association.

I very much look forward to extending SL’s contribution to ELSA’s continued growth and influence.’