Profiting From Mortality

[rumpel]

BusinessWeek

JULY 30, 2007
COVER STORY
By Matthew Goldstein

Death bonds may be the most macabre investment scheme ever devised by Wall Street

n May, as the subprime mortgage market was cracking, many of the biggest players in finance gathered at a conference in New York to talk about the next exotic investment coming down the pike: death bonds. When the event was held two years ago, just 250 people showed up. This time, nearly 600 descended on the Sheraton Hotel & Towers for the three-day confab, including delegations from Bear Stearns (BSC ), Deutsche Bank (DB ), Lehman Brothers (LEH ), Merrill Lynch (MER ), UBS (UBS ), Wachovia (WB ), Wells Fargo (WFC ), and other big firms. They flocked to seminars with titles such as "Legislative Review," milled about the exhibition hall picking up the usual conference swag, and buzzed at luncheons and a Carnegie Hall gala about the big push into the market being made by Cantor Fitzgerald, a major bond-trading shop. With all the happy banter, you wouldn't have known they were there to learn about new and imaginative ways to profit from people dying.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_31/b4044001.htm

[Wednesdays]

1. No doubt they'll find ways to ensure they get a return on investment

Ghouls.

[Demeter]

2. Defenestration, Anyone?