Item 1. Business
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding our expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition to historical financial analysis, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. These statements may be preceded by, followed by or include the words “believe(s),” “estimate(s),” “expect(s),” “predict(s),” “project(s),” “forecast(s),” “may,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “seek(s),” “plan(s),” “scheduled,” “possible,” “continue,” “potential,” “anticipate(s)” or “intend(s)” or similar expressions; provided that the absence of these does not means that a statement is not forward-looking.
All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to us on the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Actual results and timing of selected events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the potential impact of our business relationships, including with our employees, customers and competitors; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; weakness or adverse changes in the level of activity in our sector or the sectors of our affiliated companies, which may be caused by, among other things, high or increasing interest rates, or a weak U.S. economy; significant competition that our operating subsidiaries face; compliance with extensive government regulation; and other risks detailed in the those set forth under “Risk Factors” or elsewhere in this document and in our other public filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).
Business Combination
On June 30, 2023, (the “Merger Closing Date”), ERES, LMA and Abacus consummated the combining of the companies as contemplated by a merger agreement (“Merger”). In connection with the closing of the Merger, ERES was renamed Abacus Life, Inc. (the foregoing transaction is referred to as the “Business Combination”) and subsequently renamed to Abacus Global Management, Inc. in February 2025.
On December 2, 2024 (“Acquisition Closing Date”), we completed the previously announced acquisitions of Carlisle Management Company S.C.A., a corporate partnership limited by shares established under the laws of Luxembourg (“CMC”), Carlisle Investment Group S.A.R.L., a private limited liability company incorporated under the laws of Luxembourg (“CIG,” and together with CMC, “Carlisle”), a leading Luxembourg-based investment manager in the life settlement space (“Carlisle Acquisition”) and of FCF Advisors, LLC (“FCF Advisors” or “FCF”), a New York based asset manager and index provider specializing in free cash flow-focused investment strategies (“FCF Acquisition”). Refer to Note 3 Business Combinations of the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data for additional information.
We operate through four principle subsidiaries:
•Abacus Settlements, LLC (“Abacus Settlements”), which was formed as a New York limited liability company in 2004. In 2016, Abacus Settlements was licensed in Florida as a life settlement broker and became a Florida limited liability company. We are not an insurance company, are not licensed or regulated as an insurance company, and therefore do not underwrite insurable risks for our own account.
•Longevity Market Assets, LLC (“LMA”), which was formed in 2017 as a Florida limited liability company
•Carlisle incorporated in 2008 in Luxembourg
•FCF incorporated in 2016 in New York
Our Mission
Abacus Global Management Inc.’s (“Abacus Global Management” or “Abacus” or the “Company”) mission is to revolutionize financial services through expert asset management and data-driven lifespan insights, leveraging advanced technology to deliver personalized solutions that optimize financial well-being across every stage of life.
Strategic Vision
“Abacus envisions a future where financial decisions are transformed by the powerful intersection of technology, longevity data, and expert asset management. Through our four integrated verticals—Life Solutions, Asset Management, Private Wealth Management, and Health and Longevity Technology—we strive to be the premier financial partner that helps institutional investors, financial advisors, and clients harness untapped value in lifespan metrics, creating investment strategies that stand the test of time.”
- Jay Jackson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abacus Global Management, Inc.
Abacus Overview
Abacus Global Management (NASDAQ: ABL) is a leading financial services company specializing in alternative asset management, data-driven wealth solutions, technology innovations, and institutional services. With a focus on longevity-based assets and personalized financial planning, Abacus leverages proprietary data analytics and decades of industry expertise to deliver innovative solutions that optimize financial outcomes for individuals and institutions worldwide.
The company’s expanded business model now operates through four distinct yet complementary divisions:
Abacus Life Solutions––Since 2004, Abacus has purchased over $10 billion in face value of life insurance policies, helping thousands of clients maximize the value of their life insurance assets. The Life Solutions division specializes in helping consumers achieve financial security through retirement products while serving as a solutions provider to institutions. The institutional business assists insurance carriers and reinsurers in optimizing legacy liabilities and creating innovative consumer-facing products through data-based solutions.
Abacus Asset Group––The asset management division serves primarily institutional investors alongside select private clients, providing excess returns across the risk-reward spectrum. Abacus Asset Group specializes in uncorrelated and longevity-based assets, fixed-income replacement strategies, and free-cash flow based investment solutions. This division leverages proprietary analytics and market insights to identify unique opportunities through distinct investment strategies that deliver consistent performance through various market cycles while maintaining a disciplined approach to risk management.
ABL Tech––Building on decades of experience and proprietary health and longevity data sets, ABL Tech creates technology products that are revolutionizing the life planning industry. These innovations deliver tremendous benefits for pension funds, government agencies, and insurance-related businesses. The division has developed platforms that conduct real-time mortality verification, locate missing participants, and service the secondary life insurance market with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
ABL Wealth––Leveraging more than two decades of proprietary data and algorithms, ABL Wealth is redefining wealth management through a transparent, cutting edge, data-driven approach. The division helps financial advisors create customized plans based on clients' health, longevity, and overall financial wellbeing, moving beyond one-size-fits-all planning to develop financial strategies tailored to each individual.
Policy Origination | Abacus Life Solutions
As one of the leading buyers of life insurance policies in the United States for over 20 years, we sit at the heart of the life settlements industry. We leverage our strong market position, highly efficient origination platform and proprietary technology to drive our revenue and profitability. The Company and its executive team have deep experience in the life settlement industry. The Company’s guidelines are designed to allow the Company to target the life insurance policies that it believes have the most upside potential to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns to the Company through either its hold or trade portfolio. Currently, the Company principally invests in non-variable universal life insurance policies and retains the discretion to invest in whole life or convertible term life insurance policies.
Underwriting
Abacus’ origination guidelines focus on the age, gender and health of the insured, the duration, mortality risk and face value of the underlying life insurance policy, the projected internal rate of return of the investment in the underlying life insurance policy after taking into account the cost of making continued premium payments, and the ultimate amount and timing of the death benefit. These guidelines are designed to allow the Company to target the life insurance policies that it believes will generate attractive risk-adjusted returns. The Company invests primarily in non-variable universal life insurance policies.
Origination
Our proven policy origination process, known as “origination services” first locates policies and screens them for eligibility for a life settlement. This process includes verifying that the policy is in force, obtaining consent forms, and making disclosures to, policy owners, and obtaining or generating life expectancy estimates.
We generate fees on the policies we originate, which are sourced from three channels: (i) a network of approximately 30,000 financial advisors and agents, (ii) direct-to-consumer and (iii) a number of traditional life settlements intermediaries that submit policies to us on behalf of a financial advisor, agent or other client.
Portfolio Management
Once identified, we utilize our proprietary “heat-map” technology platform to determine the initial risk and viability of policies. Thereafter, a purchased policy is “actively managed,” whereby we consistently monitor the policy risk to optimize revenue by choosing to either (x) trade the policy to a third-party institutional investor (i.e., receive a trade spread) or (y) hold the policy over time (i.e., pay premiums and receive payout). Additionally, we service policies on behalf of third parties for which we receive fee-based revenue based on a percentage of policy value. Our multi-faceted and dynamic revenue model is made possible by the fact that we sit at the heart of the entire life settlements industry.
Our revenue generation platform and economic model is best summarized below:
1.Origination (fees based on a percentage of the face value or net death benefit of the acquired policies)
2.Active Management (spreads for traded policies and realized returns for held policies)
3.Third Party Portfolio Servicing (fees based on a percentage of the total asset value serviced)
Asset Management
During December 2024, we added two asset management companies in connection with two business acquisitions described above. Starting in December 2024, we manage alternative investment funds and exchange-traded funds (“ETF”). The alternative investment funds primarily invest in insurance policy settlement contracts that cater to investors seeking risk-adjusted returns with low correlation to other asset classes. The ETFs primarily invest in equity securities using a suite of core and thematic free cash flow equity strategies and offers over 50 customizable free cash flow index strategies covering eight global equities allocation categories available in separately managed accounts. Asset Management fees are based on a
percentage of total asset value under management. We also realize performance fees based on a percentage of returns over certain hurdle rates for the managed alternative investment funds.
Technology Services
Starting in February 2024, we utilize proprietary technology based on health and longevity data sets to provide solutions to pension funds, government agencies, insurance-related businesses, as well as other entities that benefit from real-time mortality verification, missing participant verification, and other services specific to the life insurance market. Technology Services fees are based on fixed annual contracts. During the fourth quarter of 2024 we began recognizing Technology Service revenue generated by ABL Tech.
The Life Settlement Industry
Large Addressable Market with Meaningful Growth Potential
We operate within a large, growing and currently under-penetrated market. The face value of all in force U.S. life insurance industry policies is approximately $13 trillion. Historically, more than 90% of life insurance policies in force did not pay a claim. Based on industry forecasts, approximately 75% of policyholders over the age of 65 will either cancel their policies or allow their coverage to lapse, forfeiting the right to ever receive a full payout. The life settlements industry helps solve this problem by allowing policyholders the opportunity to monetize their policies.
We are currently a leader in the life settlements industry. The Company has approximately a 26% market share based on our 2023 capital invested/total industry capital invested and data compiled in a 2024 report by The Deal and Life Settlements Report, a U.S. life settlements industry news source. Data for the report was aggregated from each state based on 2023 annual reporting. We have a proven track record of growth and strong asset returns. Furthermore, we are currently operational in 49 states, which is a key differentiator in an industry with high barriers to entry due to significant regulatory requirements. Our business is supported by over 125 employees and an innovative leadership team, with an average of over 20 years of experience in the industry.
The combination of the large U.S. life insurance market and the high percentage of policies that never pay a claim creates a considerable opportunity for Abacus and the broader life settlements industry. Specifically, the scale of the life settlements market opportunity is $233 billion each year. However, in 2021, the life settlements industry only captured $4 billion, or approximately 2% of the annual market of lapsed life insurance policies. We believe there is a significant opportunity to increase this market penetration, primarily by driving awareness and education regarding the ability to monetize life insurance policies by utilizing our services.
Life insurance is often a senior citizen’s largest asset and one that can be used to alleviate retirement challenges, but it is rarely treated in this way. This can be partially attributed to the fact that almost half of all financial advisors are not aware that selling a life insurance policy is an option for their clients. We help financial advisors and their clients understand that a life insurance policy is personal property and selling it for a fair market value is a legitimate, safe and viable choice that creates more investment options for the client. While less than 1% of financial advisors and agents transact in the life settlements market, based on research conducted by the Life Insurance Settlement Association, the primary industry trade association for the U.S. life settlements industry, we believe approximately 90% of senior citizens who let their life insurance policies lapse or surrendered their policies, would have considered this alternative if they had been made aware of it before lapsing or surrendering their policies. The reference to this study can be found at the Life Insurance Settlement Association—https://www.lisa.org/life-settlements-industry-will-grow-as-more-seniors-are-informed-of-their-options-say-experts-at-lisa-conference/.
Selling a life insurance policy is a valuable transaction and for those consumers who transact, the benefits can be substantial. On average, life settlements companies pay sellers nearly eight times more than the current cash value of a policy. Selling a life insurance policy not only alleviates the requirement for a policyholder to pay premiums but creates a meaningful and immediate monetization event. Sellers use these proceeds in a variety of ways, including to support their retirement, transfer wealth and pay medical bills.
Generally Uncorrelated Alternative Asset Class with Institutional Investment Grade Counterparts
While selling life insurance policies at a fair market value can have significantly positive impacts on a person’s life, it is a mutually beneficial transaction. The underlying life insurance policy is a highly attractive asset that has minimal payout risk and generally uncorrelated returns. The counterparties to these transactions are generally high-quality investment grade insurance companies. In fact, greater than 90% of our carriers have an “A Rating” or better. Additionally, these life insurance policies are cash backed by the carriers, which means they are required to pay policy claims ahead of any other contractual obligation, including senior debt.
In addition to counterparty quality, this is a largely acyclical asset class. A life insurance policy is sometimes described as a “mortality-driven zero-coupon bond” because its underlying value will appreciate over time as it approaches maturity (i.e., as the policyholder ages). This is best demonstrated when comparing our historical risk-adjusted returns relative to other benchmark asset classes.
We are at the Heart of the Life Settlements Industry
Abacus’ Origination Model
Our “Origination Process” is core to our entire business and drives our economics. We’re paid a percentage of face value in origination fees on policies and have spent the last 20 years developing three high quality origination channels (financial advisors or agents, direct to consumer and life settlements brokers).
An example of our target market includes policyholders over 75 years old whose insurance need for life insurance is outweighed by the benefit of immediate cash. We then focus our origination process on these targeted individuals, developing processes and procedures for identifying and screening policies that have attractive potential returns.
We have three distinct origination channels to reach this target market.
1. Financial Advisor or Agent—Our largest origination channel involves working directly with financial advisors to facilitate the sale of client policies. Since our founding, we have been at the forefront of developing this market and are now ingrained in a network of over 30,000 financial advisors. We are currently on multiple national financial advisory platforms, we present at conferences, and we develop marketing tools to help advisors efficiently present the benefits of life insurance settlements to their clients. As we highlighted earlier, just under half of financial advisors are unaware this financial option exists and less than 1% have completed a life settlement transaction. This origination channel has driven our significant growth over the last five years, and we believe it will continue to be a priority for our future growth.
2. Direct to Consumer—We have been building this channel for several years and have focused heavily on increasing broad consumer awareness and education regarding life insurance settlements. We have been active in a variety of common direct-to-consumer advertisement channels, including radio and television advertisements in particular. In addition, we have created a unique online “Policy Value Calculator” so that individuals can receive an instant valuation on their life insurance policies. The direct-to-consumer channel has historically driven origination on smaller face value policies than through our financial advisor or agent channel, thereby expanding the scope of policies we are able to value and acquire.
3. Traditional Life Settlements Intermediaries—Within this channel, we engage with life settlements intermediaries or “brokers” who submit policies to us on behalf of an advisor or client, for which the life settlement intermediary earns a commission. We intend to slowly reduce our reliance on these intermediaries over time and focus our efforts on building out the technology required to educate and gain access to both the financial advisor and direct-to-consumer channels.
We intend to continue to fuel origination growth by expanding our team and outreach. In order to drive awareness across all origination channels, we plan to expand our marketing and launch national television advertising campaigns.
Abacus’ Policy Acquisition Process
A life settlement transaction is the process by which a third-party intermediary acquires an existing life insurance policy for an amount greater than its current cash surrender value. Upon closing of the life settlement transaction, the insured receives an immediate cash payment, and the third-party intermediary receives ownership of the policy. Thus, the third-party intermediary becomes the beneficiary of the insured’s claim payout but is now solely responsible for all future premium payments. Our company functions as this third-party intermediary.
The process of acquiring a policy is highly regulated and policyholder friendly. Unique licenses are mandatory to operate and significant disclosures are required to be made available to consumers. We originate these policies through three distinct channels (i.e., financial advisors / agents, direct-to-consumer and traditional life settlements intermediaries). We first screen each policy to ensure it is eligible for a life settlement, including verifying the policy is in force, obtaining appropriate consents, providing disclosures, and submitting cases for medical underwriting and life expectancy estimates. In connection with this process, we use our proprietary analytics and risk-rating systems to determine an estimated market value for each individual policy.
The Company has established policies and guidelines with respect to its purchase of life insurance policies. These guidelines focus on the age of the insured, the sex of the insured, the duration of the underlying life insurance policy, the expected mortality risk of the underlying life insurance policy, the projected internal rate of return of the investment in the underlying life insurance policy and the amount of the death benefit of the underlying life insurance policy. The Company excludes making investments in life insurance policies based on certain types of the primary health impairment associated with the underlying insured to ensure that all policies are purchased in accordance with established industry standards and state law requirements.
Following the origination, underwriting and valuation processes, we formally present our proposed purchase price to the policyholder or advisor. If agreed upon, the settlement closing process begins. Appropriate closing documents are reviewed by our in-house counsel, and we send funds to an independent escrow agent. Simultaneously, change of ownership and beneficiary documentation is sent to the underlying insurance carrier. Once the changes are confirmed by the carrier, the escrow agent sends the proceeds to the appropriate party, and we become responsible for the underlying insurance policy (i.e., paying premiums and receiving claim). The proceeds from the escrow agent will also include the commission(s) we owe to the broker and / or agent as well as our fee for completing the origination services.
While the transaction is deemed closed, it is important to note that the policy owner may generally rescind the life settlement contract within 30 days from execution of the agreement or 15 days from the receipt of cash proceeds by the owner. As such, revenue is not recorded until this rescission period is over.
Once the transaction is closed, the policy enters our active portfolio management whereby we determine whether a policy should be sold to a third-party institutional investor or held on our balance sheet. In certain cases, we identify a purchaser prior to the close of a transaction, in which case the policy is transferred directly to the purchaser at closing.
Proprietary Technology Platforms Support Our Business
We have and continue to develop a comprehensive suite of technology products that helps drive origination, underwriting and trading. Specifically, we have created:
1. Risk Rating Heat Map—Using the large amount of data we have gathered over time, we have developed a proprietary risk-rating platform that measures the risk of life insurance contracts on a range from 1–5 (low–high risk, respectively). This risk score is calculated on a wide range of factors, including (i) duration and extension risk, (ii) policy face value and purchase type, (iii) policy type, (iv) carrier rating, (v) life expectancy (“LE”) and LE extension ratios, (vi) age and age on LE date and (vii) survival probability. We believe this platform is a key differentiating factor relative to our competitors as it gives us a meaningful advantage when valuing and purchasing life insurance policies.
2. Policy Value Creator—Our “Policy Value Calculator” drives origination by using proprietary data to instantly value policies for both individuals and financial advisors. This easy-to-use online tool only requires four pieces of information: (i) gender, (ii) age, (iii) face value and (iv) policy type. These data points then generate a valuation range that advisors and individuals can use to quickly assess the current value of their policy.
3. Innovations in “InsurTech”—More recently, we have begun developing “Abacusmarketplace.com”, which is a blockchain tertiary trading, servicing and valuation platform. Given we will be able to see a large suite of data gathered by this website, we believe it will help us maintain our leading market position and keep us at the heart of the life settlements industry. We added the ability for investors to directly purchase policies in the third quarter of 2023. Abacusmarketplace.com is still in the early stages of development and we do not currently expect that Abacusmarketplace.com will have a material impact on the Company’s future financial results.
Active Portfolio Management Strategy
With meaningful support from our proprietary risk rating heat map, we consistently evaluate policies (at origination and throughout the lifecycle) to generate essentially uncorrelated risk adjusted returns. Upon acquiring a policy, we have the option to either (i) trade that policy to a third-party institutional investor (i.e., generating a spread on each trade) or (ii) hold that policy on our balance sheet until maturity (i.e., paying the premiums over time and receiving the final claim / payout). This process is predicated on driving the best economics for Abacus.
1. Traded Portfolio—Our traded portfolio returns are driven by (i) the spread we generate by selling policies to third-party institutional investors and (ii) our ability to quickly recycle capital. Our trade spreads average above cost basis depending on the contract and we recycle our capital annually. These two metrics are driven by our ability to effectively originate new policies (supply) and the underlying market interest for the policies (demand).
2. Hold Portfolio—Relative to our traded portfolio, our hold portfolio has the potential to generate a higher estimated annual return than our traded portfolio but requires approximately a 3 to 4 times greater capital investment, which is driven by the need to hold policies, rather than recycle the policies in trading, and to fund premium payments during the holding period for a policy. To the extent that we are not able to commit the required capital, we then focus efforts more on our traded portfolio. Our origination platform and proprietary risk rating heat map has allowed us to hold only what we determine to be the highest quality policies which have our lowest risk ratings.
Policy Servicing
In addition to generating economics on the policies we directly originate and actively manage, we have a dynamic platform to service bundles of policies for a variety of third-party institutions. We generate revenue by charging a base servicing fee of approximately 0.5% of the total asset value of the portfolio. We have experience servicing a large number of policies for highly sophisticated institutions, including policies for large asset managers. Beyond our fees, servicing policies at scale supports our data analytics and keeps us at the heart of the life settlements industry. We have a sophisticated team of professionals solely focused on servicing these policies.
Prospects for Future Growth
Continued Maturation of the Life Settlements Industry
As described above, there is approximately $200 billion in policy value that lapses on an annual basis. However, the life settlements industry captured only approximately 2% of the potential market in 2021, which leaves significant runway for future growth for industry participants. The total face value of life insurance policies is expected to grow from approximately $6 billion in 2022 to approximately $8 billion in 2028, which is a 5% compounded annual growth rate. Given our position at the heart of the life settlements industry, we believe that we are well positioned to capitalize on this anticipated market growth.
Focus on Growing the Origination Process
Our ability to originate policies is essential to scale our business over time. In order to support this expected growth, we continue to invest in our technology and marketing infrastructure. In general, we expect our efforts will continue to focus on driving education and awareness of life settlements. In order to meet this growing demand, we have increased our total employee headcount.
Continued Innovation in Technology
Using technology to improve our analytics, market liquidity and velocity of capital use is a key priority. Certain key technology elements are:
1. Analytics (Abacus Analytics)—the standard pricing and valuation platform for policy valuation and portfolio assessment that we believe will allow us to obtain visibility into every transaction in the industry.
2. Liquidity (Abacusmarketplace.com)—tertiary trading, servicing and valuation platform (added direct purchase in 2023). Abacusmarketplace.com is a proprietary technology platform that has been designed in order to facilitate tertiary trading, servicing and valuation for the life settlement industry. This platform is intended to increase the trading volume for the entire industry by removing intermediaries and improving the efficiency and security of the transactions. The Company expects to realize future revenue through licensing agreements with Abacusmarketplace.com. However, Abacusmarketplace.com is still in the early stages of development, and we do not currently expect that Abacusmarketplace.com will have a material impact on the Company’s future financial results.
Access to Capital Markets Provides More Attractive Financing
We believe that as a publicly traded company, we will have access to a lower cost of capital, which will optimize our per policy revenue and allow us to fund additional investment in infrastructure. Additionally, as discussed in more detail below, access to additional capital will enable us to increase our balance sheet hold portfolio, which we believe may drive higher long-term returns.
Transitioning Our Business Model as Our Capital Base Scales
As our capital base scales, we have the ability to increase the proportion of policies that we hold on our balance sheet. One of the most obvious benefits to a larger hold portfolio is that it may increase the predictability of returns (i.e., held policies typically increase in value over time, largely independent of trading market conditions). Additionally, with a larger hold portfolio, there is a unique opportunity to begin securitizing policies. In the long-term, we believe securitized portfolios can drive an even lower cost of capital and can be sold in scale to third parties at a significant multiple.
Proven Ability to Deploy Capital and Scale
Over the past few years, we managed a $150 million capital base via a joint venture with a large alternative asset manager. This joint venture was terminated on June 30,2023, in connection with the Company’s merger with East Resources Acquisition Company ("ERES”), a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on May 22, 2020. Under GAAP the financial results of the entire joint venture are not included in our financial statements as the joint venture is not under common control and neither Abacus Settlements nor LMA have a direct ownership interest or investment in the joint venture. The financial impacts of the joint venture recognized in the financial statements solely relate to the services provided by Abacus Settlements and LMA to the joint venture and are discussed in the respective related party transaction notes in the financial statements.
Competition
We compete with numerous life insurance settlement originators, servicers, and investors, alternative asset managers, wealth advisors as well as mortality verification companies. Our primary competitors in each of our business lines differ significantly from those in our other business lines principally because few companies
compete against us in all business segments in which we operate. Competition is high in all our business lines, in particular life insurance settlement origination where competitors have invested significantly in marketing and acquisitions.
The risks associated with our competitors are further discussed in Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors.
Our Employees
As of December 31, 2024, we had 157 employees, none of whom are subject to any collective bargaining agreement or represented by a labor union. 25 of our employees are based outside of the United States. To date, we have not experienced any work stoppages and we consider our employee relations to be good. We believe that our employees are critical to our long-term success.
Intellectual Property
Our business depends, in part, on our ability to develop and maintain the proprietary aspects of its core technology. We rely on trademarks to protect our intellectual property.
We have been issued a federal registration for our “Abacus Settlements” and “Abacus Life” trademarks. We also hold various domain names for websites that we use in our business. Additionally, we have developed and maintain proprietary software for our internal use to aid in pricing, valuation and risk analysis of life settlement policies.
Regulatory Overview
We are subject to various laws, regulations and licensing requirements in the United States which may expose us to liability, increase costs or have other adverse effects that could harm our business. These laws and regulations include, but are not limited to, data privacy and data localization, healthcare, insurance, copyright or similar laws, anti-spam, consumer protection, employment and taxation. Compliance with such laws can require changes to our business practices and significant management time and effort. Additionally, as we continue to develop and improve consumer-facing products and services, and as those offerings grow in popularity, the risk that additional laws and regulations will impact our business will continue to increase. We believe that we are in material compliance with all such laws, regulations and licensing requirements.
Data Privacy Laws and Regulations
Because we receive, use, transmit, disclose and store personal data, we are subject to numerous state and federal laws and regulations that address privacy, data protection and the collection, storing, sharing, use, transfer, disclosure and protection of certain types of data. We are subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) which restricts the making of telemarketing calls and the use of automatic telephone dialing systems. Violators of the TCPA face regulatory enforcement action, substantial civil penalties, injunctions, and in some states, private lawsuits for damages.
Privacy and data security regulation in the U.S. is rapidly evolving. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which came into force in 2020. The CCPA and related regulations give California residents expanded rights to access and request deletion of their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used and shared. The CCPA allows for the California Attorney General to impose civil penalties for violations, as well as providing a private right of action for certain data breaches. California voters also recently passed the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which will take effect on January 1, 2023. The CPRA significantly modifies the CCPA, including by imposing additional obligations on covered companies and expanding California consumers’ rights with respect to certain personal information. The CCPA’s restrictions on “sales” of personal information may restrict our use of cookies and similar technologies for advertising purposes, as well as increasing our compliance costs and potential liability. The CCPA excludes information covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the California
Financial Information Privacy Act from the CCPA’s scope, but the CCPA’s definition of “personal information” is broad and may encompass other information that we maintain.
The passage of the CCPA likely marked the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the U.S., and multiple states have enacted or proposed similar laws. For example, in 2020, Nevada enacted SB 220 which restricts the “selling” of personal information and, in 2021, Virginia passed the Consumer Data Protection Act which is set to take effect on January 1, 2023 and creates new privacy rights for Virginia residents. There is also discussion in Congress of new comprehensive federal data protection and privacy law to which we likely would be subject if it is enacted.
Various regulators are interpreting existing state consumer protection laws to impose evolving standards for the online collection, use, dissemination and security of other personal data. Courts may also adopt the standards for fair information practices which concern consumer notice, choice, security and access. Consumer protection laws require us to publish statements that describe how we handle personal information and choices individuals may have about the way we handle their personal data.
Our failure to comply with these privacy laws or regulations could expose us to significant fines and penalties imposed by regulators and has in the past and could in the future expose us to legal claims by buyers, or other relevant stakeholders. Some of these laws, such as the CCPA, permit individual or class action claims for certain alleged violations, increasing the likelihood of such legal claims. Similarly, many of these laws require us to maintain an online privacy policy, terms of service and other informational pages that disclose our practices regarding the collection, processing and disclosure of personal information. If these disclosures contain any information that a court or regulator finds to be inaccurate, we could also be exposed to legal or regulatory liability. Any such proceedings or violations could force us to spend money in defense or settlement of these proceedings, result in the imposition of monetary liability or demanding injunctive relief, divert management’s time and attention, increase our costs of doing business and materially adversely affect our reputation.
Insurance Laws and Regulations
We operate as a life settlement producer in forty-nine (49) states. We have a strong track record with each state in which we are licensed and have not had any reportable incidents. Our in-house counsel and compliance staff reviews every life insurance policy we consider acquiring for compliance with applicable state regulations. We file an annual report with each state in which it operates and each state has the ability to request an audit at its discretion. Currently, 42 states have regulations that support the sale of life insurance policies to a third party, like our Company. Each state also has its own policyholder-facing disclosure requirements that we comply with in the ordinary course of its business.
We focus on acquiring and trading non-variable, non-fractionalized life insurance policies. These life insurance policies are deemed to be personal property of the owner based upon the Supreme Court decision Grigsby v. Russell in 1911. Furthermore, non-variable, non-fractionalized life insurance policies are not deemed to be securities under the federal securities laws, and so the Company is not required to register as an investment adviser or an investment company under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended or the Investment Company Act, respectively.
The Company may, in the future, purchase some amount of variable life insurance policies or interests in the death benefit of underlying life insurance policies. The Company has recently acquired a limited purpose broker dealer, which the Company intends to license to engage in transactions for variable and fractionalized life insurance policies. Abacus expects that any transactions in variable or fractionalized life insurance policies will represent less than 20% of the life insurance policies acquired by the Company at any time. The Company does not, and does not in the future intend to, engage in any life insurance securitization.
Regulated Entities Outside of the U.S.
Carlisle and the funds it manages are licensed and have authorizations to operate in Luxembourg. These licenses and authorizations relate to providing investment management, administration of funds, marketing of the funds, and other regulated activities. Failure to comply with the laws and regulations could expose us to liability and/or damage our reputation.
The risks associated with our regulated entities outside of the U.S. are further discussed in Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors.
Available Information
Our investor relations website address is https://ir.abacuslife.com/. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements, and any and all amendments thereto are available free of charge through our investor relations website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These materials are also accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.