ORLANDO, FL, May 30 / MARKET WIRE/ --

The Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) today applauds the Ohio General Assembly for passing a comprehensive new Life Settlement Law that protects the property rights of life insurance policy owners while enacting new measures to detect, prevent, and enforce against stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI).

"Ohio lawmakers had been pressed by big insurance to take away consumer rights and impair their ability to access the secondary market for life insurance," said Doug Head, Executive Director of LISA. The insurers'' rejected proposal would have restricted a consumer''s right to sell his/her policy in a competitive market and driven life settlement companies from operating in the state. "But," Mr. Head continued, "Ohio legislators resisted the pressure and developed legislation better targeted to attack the described abuses, while striving to avoid the wholesale revocation of long-standing consumer rights."

While several issues remain, including some lingering concerns over the wording of the restrictions on selling premium financed policies, LISA will work with the Department of Insurance and the legislature to ensure that the interest of consumers in the implementation of this legislation are met and that the secondary market in Ohio is as vibrant as it has been to date.

The legislation, which passed after extensive hearings in the Senate led by Insurance Chair Steven Stivers, recognized, as Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson said, the ''shared responsibility'' of insurance companies to address abuse of consumers. Mr. Head explained: "While big insurance focused on scaring the public and lawmakers with vague descriptions of STOLI abuses, the Ohio legislature sensibly rejected a broad five-year ban on Ohio consumers'' right to sell their policies in a competitive market. Legislators insisted that such restrictions should narrowly apply only where a policy holder failed to disclose to insurers certain premium finance and trust arrangements at policy origination or during the historically standard contestable period."


"Ohio joins the growing number of states that have rejected the ill-conceived five-year ban advocated by big insurance and some regulators," concluded Mr. Head.

The bill recognizes that STOLI occurs at the inception of a policy and the primary role that carriers have in stamping out the STOLI during underwriting, by requiring plans for identifying STOLI, improved detection measures at application, requiring annual reports on STOLI and required reporting of STOLI activities to regulators.

Established in 1994, the Life Insurance Settlement Association is the oldest and largest trade organization in the industry. Its goal is to promote the development, integrity, and reputation of the life settlement industry, and to promote a competitive market for the people it serves. LISA now represents 179 members with a wide variety of interests in the industry. For more about the Association, visit www.lisassociation.org.