How does product design impact securitization?
Just consider what’s been accomplished with term business versus other life products. We’ve been able to move towards a very similar series of structures in Triple X deals because term life products are relatively simple. But even with this business, each company is so different – their fact pattern, what they’re trying to achieve – that we may never get to a cookie-cutter approach like you see in the credit card or auto loan market. Things get much more complicated when you move away from term and consider securitizing universal life or other life products. If everyone’s product design becomes identical, as in the mortgage market, and there’s no differentiation at all, then maybe you could move towards real standardization. But as long as products have slightly different features – and insurers seem to want that as a differentiating factor – it’s hard to believe life insurance securitization will become as standardized as some other markets. Transparency What product or process charac
