Apollo Accused of Human Life Wagering

Found these articles entertaining, Apollo allegedly held a portfolio of stranger's life insurance policies worth an estimated $20 billion. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-2…

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/apollo-accused-in-law…

First they came for their associates' souls, now they're after your life hahahaha....

17 Comments
 
dawgs.100

A little sensationalist wording -- this isn't a new industry. It was unclear if they were originating policy's without the underlying person's consent or not. If they had it, I'm not sure how this is different than secondary sales of life insurance policies that is not a novel thing.

Agree on the sensationalist wording, meant to add that into my description after reading the articles. Can't really opine though given I have no idea how U.S. insurance law works.

 

Typically this happens when people are already near the end of their life. It was a big thing during the AIDS epidemic for those dying of AIDS to cash out their policy early so they could have a higher quality of life/care while they were still living since they had no one to pass the money on to. 

 

I do wonder how Apollo is making money on it. My understanding is that if you buy a policy from an individual, then you are buying at a discount value (cost of liquidity to the individual). However, if Apollo is taking out new policies on people (as the article implies), then they do not get the benefit of the discount and it seems like are basically just betting against the insurco actuary/betting that the insurance policies are mispriced. I know Apollo is heavily involved in insurance, but it still seems like a tough investment strategy unless I am missing something.

 
Most Helpful

This is sensationalist… it’s effectively just a life insurance strategy run by a firm that does a ton of insurance. To insinuate someone working in healthcare would cut someone’s life short because they work at a company owned by Apollo seems crazy to me… also, how is a strategy you can easily find on Pitchbook secretive? First vintage of Apollo FCI was in 2012… very easy to find.

I don’t and have never worked at Apollo but heard about this strategy like 6 years ago. I haven’t read all the details of why people are making a fuss now but had to stop reading after all the ridiculous secretive and gambling claims. The older I get, the more I realize how naive a lot of people are to the world around them and easily upset.

Are we going to start calling home flood insurance policies secretive gambling on weather patterns?

 

I get it you are being facetious, but I am now studying for the CFA L3 and life policy trading is included in the curriculum as a germane HF strategy. $20bn dedicated to this is certainly brazen though

 

Nobis molestias sed animi modi repudiandae et. Doloremque nostrum ut quod molestiae laboriosam possimus. Tempore et non distinctio magni tempore. Ut eius sunt excepturi laboriosam repellendus cum. Ipsam officiis et numquam vel architecto autem consectetur minus. Eos corrupti expedita voluptas non et doloremque. Dolores voluptas est voluptatem placeat eveniet.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (66) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”