Longevity and mortality investors gather in London as market expands

By AI, Created 10:10 AM UTC, May 21, 2026, /AGP/ – More than 200 industry participants met in London last week for the Longevity and Mortality Investor Conference 2026 to assess how longevity and mortality risk markets are evolving. Speakers highlighted new opportunities across life settlements, pension risk transfer and emerging regulatory structures.

Why it matters: - The longevity and mortality markets are drawing broader investor attention as new structures, data tools and regulatory pathways expand the asset class. - The conference signaled growing interest in sources of return tied to demographic and mortality risk. - Chris Wells said the opportunity set remains in an early stage, despite established markets such as life settlements and emerging regimes such as the UK’s potential life ISPV framework.

What happened: - The Longevity and Mortality Investor Conference 2026 took place on Tuesday, May 19, in London’s Canary Wharf district at EY’s offices. - More than 200 industry participants attended in person and virtually. - Professor David Blake of Bayes Business School delivered the keynote presentation. - The event focused on the rapid evolution of the longevity and mortality markets.

The details: - Professor Blake reviewed the longevity market’s origins, evolution and future potential as an investable asset class. - The keynote covered the past 25 years of market development, including longevity risk quantification, key market requirements, macro-longevity assets and paths to expand the asset class. - Panel sessions included a State of the Market discussion with participants from pension risk transfer, life settlements and life ILS. - Another panel examined how institutional investment consultants view longevity and mortality risk strategies. - A dedicated session covered longevity benchmarking and index development. - Legal and structuring experts discussed developments across the life risk market. - Additional presentations addressed longevity and mortality risk markets, longevity analytics, demographic modelling and behavioral dynamics in the life risk sector. - Conference support came from EY, Longevity Holdings, ArentFox Schiff, Coventry Capital, Hudson Structured Capital Management, Orrick, BroadRiver Asset Management, Corry Capital Advisors, LifeRoc Capital, Wilmington Trust, Apex Capital Partners, Club Vita, Computershare, Kilter Finance, Longevity Services, LHL Strategies, NorthStar Life Services, Preston Capital, We Buy Life Policy and Willkie, Farr & Gallagher. - The European Life Settlement Association was founded in 2009 to set standards for participants in the European life settlement industry. - ELSA represents institutional investors, life settlement asset managers and service providers in Europe and globally. - ELSA says it promotes transparency by providing accurate, authoritative information to investors, regulators and the media. - More information is available at ELSA’s website.

Between the lines: - The conference agenda shows a market moving beyond pure investment interest into infrastructure, benchmarking and legal design. - The presence of consultants, lawyers and structuring experts suggests the sector is trying to make longevity and mortality risk easier for institutional capital to evaluate and deploy. - The mix of mature markets and emerging regulatory ideas points to a push for broader, more scalable investment channels.

What’s next: - Market participants will likely continue building data, indices and legal structures needed to support wider institutional adoption. - Emerging ideas such as the UK’s potential life ISPV regime may become a focal point for future market development. - Ongoing expansion in analytics and demographic modelling could shape how investors price and manage longevity risk.

The bottom line: - Longevity and mortality risk are moving from niche conversations toward a more developed investable market, but the infrastructure is still being built.