The 2015 First Quarter Report of structured settlement annuity provider sales recently compiled and selectively distributed by Melissa Evola Price provided welcome news for the industry.
Structured settlement 2015 first quarter annuity premium of $1,332,047,252 increased by more than $230 million (21%) compared with the 2014 first quarter annuity premium of $1,101,839,529. This 2015 first quarter total is the largest since 2009 when reporting companies produced $1,418,930,180 of structured settlement annuity premium.
Annual structured settlement premium reached its historic 12 month industry record of $6,226,578,725 in 2008 after consistently averaging close to $6 billion annually from 2001-2007. Annual premium totals dropped off sharply from 2009 (following the 2008 financial crisis) thru 2012 before showing modest improvements in 2013 and 2014.
Note: Melissa Evola Price's quarterly structured settlement report is now copyrighted by her company, Structured Financial Associates, Inc. (SFA). Price and SFA have granted S2KM permission to publish selected portions of her report on both S2KM's blog ("Beyond Structured Settlements") and the structured settlement wiki.
The improved 2015 first quarter structured settlement sales appear to result, in significant part, from a purposeful, renewed marketing focus by the National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) and its members including:
- Marketing Boot Camp - NSSTA transfigured its 2013 Fall Educational Conference into a "Marketing Boot Camp" - "designed to help every member who attends learn how to increase the number of referrals they get from their clients and how to develop new clients."
- Structures 202 - NSSTA revised its prior Structures 101 educational program (primarily for case managers) in 2015 to attract and assist "Next Generation" structured settlement participants who are new to the market and rapidly replacing the pioneering generation of professionals who created the structured settlement industry in the 1970s and 1980s.
- NSSTA University - During its Fall 2014 Conference, NSSTA announced a new "NSSTA University" service whereby NSSTA will partner with any member to secure CE credits for member-sponsored educational seminars or insurance claims departments or law firms.
- MSSC - Complementing and extending its Certified Structured Settlement Consultant (CSSC) Professional Certification Program, NSSTA has added a new Master's Certificate in Structured Settlement Consulting (MSSC). NSSTA recognized and honored the most recent graduates of both programs during its 2015 Annual Meeting.
- New Market Surveys - In partnership with CLM Advisors, NSSTA's Marketing Committee commissioned a three part survey project during 2014 to provide its members with valuable marketing tools for discussions with the audiences surveyed. These surveys have now been completed: Part 1 (senior claims executives); Part 2 (claims professionals); Part 3 (plaintiff attorneys).
- Prudential Survey - Complementing NSSTA's new market surveys, NSSTA member and structured settlement provider Prudential recently published the results of its 2013 survey of 400 claimants who had entered into a settlement of a physical injury or workers’ compensation claim of at least $100,000.
In addition to these marketing initiatives, NSSTA finally appears to be encouraging some degree of structured settlement "industry unity". NSSTA President Michael Goodman highlighted the following recent "NSSTA successes" during NSSTA's 2015 Annual Meeting:
- A strong relationship with the American Association for Justice (AAJ);
- Improved dialogue with the Society of Settlement Planners (SSP);
- Guest educational participation involving SSP and National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP) representatives;
- Successful cooperation with NASP to enact revised structured settlement protection legislation in Illinois.
Do the positive 2015 first quarter results anticipate further growth in the structured settlement primary market? And, if so, what resources and strategies will be required?
S2KM will address these questions in subsequent blog posts based in part on the results of the most recent structured settlement market surveys sponsored by NSSTA and Prudential.
For S2KM's most recent structured settlement primary market reports, see:
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