As aging demographics accelerate and AI matures, the center of gravity in fintech is shifting from consumer interfaces to market infrastructure. “Fintech’s edge now is translation, not theatrics,” says Yaniv Bertele, founder of EverOak Innovations. “Turn clinical and actuarial signals into investor-grade metrics like IRR, duration, dispersion, correlation and you unlock a new sleeve of genuinely independent returns.” Demography makes the case urgent: by 2030 one in six people will be 60+, reaching 2.1 billion by 2050. That’s not a cycle; it’s a structural reallocation of risk.
The most visible proof that specialist risks are moving into the mainstream is catastrophe risk. In April 2025, the Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF (NYSE: ILS) listed in the U.S., bringing a historically specialist exposure to a daily‑dealt wrapper. The underlying cat‑bond/ILS market now sits around $55 billion of outstanding risk capital, while alternative reinsurance capital reached a record ~$120 billion in mid‑2025. “When the rails are ready – data, indices, creation/redemption, liquidity risk management, alternatives can be ‘ticker‑ized’ responsibly,” Bertele notes.
But he is careful to separate actuarial longevity exposures from catastrophe risk. “Packaging must match the physics of the asset,” he says. “Longevity‑exposed portfolios, like life settlements, are illiquid and model‑priced. The right public‑market gateways today are typically interval funds or listed closed‑end vehicles, not daily‑liquidity ETFs, until secondary‑market plumbing and standardized valuation deepen.” U.S. fund rules reflect that reality: SEC Rule 22e‑4 requires open‑end funds (including ETFs) to run robust liquidity programs; Rule 6c‑11 sets ETF transparency and basket standards; Rule 23c‑3 governs interval funds’ periodic redemptions. A live precedent on the listed side is Life Settlement Assets plc on the London Stock Exchange.
The market‑structure shift is not just about wrappers, it’s also about price discovery. “Price discovery should be a feature, not an afterthought,” Bertele says. In life settlements today, sellers often engage brokers who canvas bids from multiple providers, but the process is rarely transparent to the policyholder. “A modern marketplace would surface competing bids side‑by‑side, timestamp the workflow, and embed licensing and disclosures from day one. That’s how you raise outcomes and trust at the same time.” The regulatory spine exists: 43 states plus Puerto Rico regulate life settlements (roughly 90% population coverage), with Michigan and New Mexico regulating viaticals only; FINRA’s investor materials emphasize shopping multiple bids and working with licensed parties.
The sticking point that has long limited longevity‑exposed assets is underwriting opacity. Legacy life‑expectancy (LE) methods are proprietary, and studies have documented systematic differences among major providers, differences that directly affect valuation. “The goal isn’t to replace experts; it’s to standardize and evidence expertise,” Bertele says. “We build reproducible models with version control, out‑of‑sample validation, A/E studies under ASOP‑48, challenger models, drift monitoring, and audit trails. If we can’t explain why an LE moved, we don’t ship it.”
His governance stance is explicit: “Trust is a product feature.” EverOak Innovations’ approach aligns with the NAIC’s AI Model Bulletin (explainability, documentation, accountability) and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. On data handling, “PHI flows under HIPAA authorizations; training relies on de‑identified data using Safe Harbor or Expert Determination methods,” Bertele adds. “That’s how we translate PHI to IRR with safeguards and receipts.”
Translation is the through‑line. “Insurance speaks in impairments, meds, labs, survival curves; capital markets speak in IRR, duration, volatility bands, and correlation. Technology’s job is to map one to the other so investment committees can size positions on a risk‑budget basis,” he says. Standardization also sets the stage for more robust secondary trading, consistency in inputs and methodologies makes independent verification feasible, narrows bid‑ask spreads over time, and supports fairer price discovery.
Accounting candor matters too. “Call assets what they are,” Bertele says. “Many longevity exposures are Level 3 fair‑value holdings under IFRS 13, unobservable inputs, model‑priced. That’s not a flaw; it’s a disclosure and governance signal. Your wrapper, liquidity terms, and sensitivity reporting should match the asset’s physics.”
For allocators reconsidering the off‑the‑shelf 60/40, his advice is pragmatic. “Don’t just reshuffle equity-rate beta. Add independent cash‑flow engines. Cat risk is now ETF‑accessible with daily dealing; longevity belongs in interval or listed closed‑end formats, provided the underwriting is explainable and the valuation playbook is transparent.” In parallel, SEC staff have previously recommended clarifying the securities treatment of certain life‑settlement interests, another reason to pair democratization with rigorous disclosures.
What should founders and product teams build next? “Three things,” Bertele says. “First, data infrastructure, clean, standardized medical and policy data with lineage. Second, marketplace rails, licensed, auditable bid‑and‑ask workflows that let sellers and buyers see the same information at the same time. Third, fit‑for‑purpose wrappers, ETFs where liquidity is real (cat risk), and interval/closed‑end solutions where the cash flows are illiquid (longevity). The moat is translation and trust.”
The thesis is simple but demanding: use explainable AI and fit‑for‑purpose market plumbing to convert actuarial complexity into investor‑grade clarity. Get that right, Bertele argues, and ageing populations become a real‑economy opportunity for consumers and investors alike. “When you replace opacity with reproducible evidence, everybody wins: seniors get better pricing, allocators get uncorrelated income, and the system gets more resilient.”
For more insights into Bertele’s approach, visit his personal website or follow his thoughts on LinkedIn where he regularly discusses alternative investments and financial innovation.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice.
