In mid March, JPMorgan Chase & Co. unveiled the LifeMetrics Index, part of the LifeMetrics toolkit that includes software that can be used to develop mortality projections. The index was developed for the use of pension plans, sponsors, insurers and reinsurers to help determine longevity risk. The toolkit is free and publicly accessible at jpmorgan.com/lifemetrics. “What the index does is it gives a snapshot on mortality and longevity today and what it will be tomorrow–in the context of what the growth has been in the past,” explains Guy Coughlan, managing director and global head of pension asset liability management at JPMorgan. The index is the second of its kind: In December 2005, Credit Suisse released the Credit Suisse Longevity Index. “We've had interest from insurance companies looking for an independently verifiable source to check their own actuarial assumptions. From pension funds and from the reinsurance sector as well,” notes Caitlin Long, a managing director and head of the Structured Solutions group within the US Financial Institutions Group (FIG) of Credit Suisse.