Jiahua Xu
Former Member
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Dr.
Last Name
Xu
First name
Jiahua
Phone
+41 71 224 7963
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Xing

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  • Publication
    Ashar Group: Brokers and Co-opetition in the Life Settlement Industry
    (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2018-05-01)
    Braun, Alexander
    ;
    Cohen, Lauren H.
    ;
    Malloy, Christopher J.
    ;
    Xu, Jiahua
    Connecting life insurance policyholders with potential investors (called Life Settlement Providers), Ashar Group plays a pivotal role in the industry. Its current position is however increasingly being challenged by consumer-direct models, led by major providers seeking to shortcut brokers. Ashar faces a strategic dilemma in cooperating --- but also competing --- with these providers. Maintaining a mutually beneficial dynamic with policyholders, downstream intermediaries and other actors thus constitutes a balancing act. The context of this case is an underdeveloped market whose reputation has suffered from broker misconduct. In light of the market's legacy issues and competing business models, this case study explores strategies Ashar may pursue to secure and enhance its market position. Discussions emerging from this case study have the potential to illuminate directions for market transformation.
    Type: case study
    Issue: 218-109
    URL: https://store.hbr.org/product/ashar-group-brokers-and-co-opetition-in-the-life-settlement-industry/218109?sku=218109-PDF-ENG
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/100509
  • Publication
    Introduction to Life Settlements
    (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2018-06-05)
    Braun, Alexander
    ;
    Cohen, Lauren H.
    ;
    Malloy, Christopher J.
    ;
    Xu, Jiahua
    Life insurance is an asset owned by the majority of American adults (61%). Note that this 61% penetration rate is essentially at parity with home ownership (64%), and higher than that of 401(k) retirement account ownership (53%). Life settlements, or life insurance settlements, allow individuals to sell their life insurance policy in a secondary market. A life insurance policy is a tradable asset, for many individuals possibly the most valuable one in their portfolio after real estate and perhaps a retirement account. The fact that the policy is tradable, however, is hardly known to the general public. When surrendering a policy to the insurance carrier, the policyholder often incurs a substantial discount on its economic value. At the same time, the insurer keeps the difference between the policy's economic value and its surrender value. By selling a policy in the secondary market, in contrast, it is common to achieve a price markedly above the surrender value. Hence, life settlements allow policyholders to capture a much larger, if not full, share of their contracts' economic value. In this Industry Note, we lay out the basic structure of the market, the important players, and the basic economics. We also go into the potential ways to maximize returns in this market for both investors and policy holders.
    Type: case study
    Issue: 218-127
    URL: https://store.hbr.org/product/introduction-to-life-settlements/218127?sku=218127-PDF-ENG
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/100376