J.P. Morgan Exiting Life Settlement Market

By Dealflow Media

J.P. Morgan is getting out of the life settlement market, a person familiar with the company said.

The person told The Life Settlements Wire that J.P. Morgan expects to wind down its operation over the next few months.

J.P. Morgan is the second major investment bank to exit the market in recent months. Goldman Sachs said it was leaving the market in January, disappointed in its lack of growth.

J.P. Morgan had entered the business around 2007. It had a smaller operation than its competitors, employing fewer than 10 people in its life finance business, the person familiar with the company said.

Rob Finfer, chief executive of Bethesda, Md.-based life settlement broker Integrity Capital Partners said he hasn’t seen J.P. Morgan purchasing policies for at least a year.

“I would not have referred to them as a major player in the life settlement space,” Finfer said. Still, “I’m disappointed when any funding source decides to leave the space, especially in the environment where we have so many excellent policies for sale.”

J.P. Morgan spokesman Brian Marchiony declined to comment.