Singapore's Marina Bay Sands recently welcomed scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from around the world for the 20th Conference on International Longevity Risk and Capital Market Solutions (L20). The milestone event, hosted by Nanyang Business School (NBS) at Nanyang Technological University, brought together global experts to address one of the most pressing challenges facing societies worldwide: managing longevity risk in an aging world.
A global challenge requiring global solutions
The conference opening highlighted the universal nature of longevity challenges. As one speaker noted, families everywhere face these realities daily, from caring for aging parents to navigating healthcare systems. Countries across Asia—Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China—along with Western nations, are grappling with similar demographic shifts that require coordinated responses.
"This is not a concern of any single family, any community, or any country anymore," said NBS dean Jun Yang, reflecting on how the lifespan-healthspan gap affects everyone during her welcome address. "We have to come up with discussions and hopefully some solutions together."
A thriving market for risk transfer
The longevity risk transfer market has experienced remarkable growth since its inception in the UK around 2006. The market now processes over $1tn in cumulative transactions globally since 2007, with no signs of slowing down.
Market highlights include:
- UK: $48bn in transactions last year across 298 deals
- US: 784 transactions valued at over $50bn in 2024
- Canada: 130 transactions worth over $7.9bn
Bayes Business School professor of finance and Pensions Institute director David Blake also added that there is emerging activity in Germany, Netherlands, and Japan.
“The market encompasses pension risk transfer solutions including buyouts, buy-ins, and longevity swaps, with major players competing intensively to help corporations remove longevity risk from their balance sheets,” he said, during his opening address.
Innovation and technology at the forefront
Singapore's unique position as a bridge between East and West makes it an ideal venue for fostering international collaboration. “NBS is establishing connections with top universities globally, from Stanford and MIT to leading Chinese institutions like Shanghai Jiao Tong University,” said Ms Yang.
The school is launching several new initiatives:
- A Global Institute of Finance, Technology and Society (GIFTS)
- An Actuarial and Risk Analytics master's program starting in 2026
- Partnerships addressing FinTech and InsurTech innovations
These developments reflect the growing intersection of technology with traditional risk management, particularly as wearable devices, health supplements, and experimental therapies create new data privacy and regulatory challenges.
Building capital market solutions
An important focus of the conference was advancing index-based longevity hedging. The Index Longevity Market Action Committee (ILLMAC), established in 2023, aims to create market standards for basis risk quantification and provide regulatory clarity for capital relief.
“This initiative represents a critical step toward developing a robust capital market for alternative risk transfer, potentially unlocking new sources of funding for longevity risk management,” said Professor Blake.