The Major Growth Product in the Expat Market in 2025

Posted on: 11th December 2025 in Financial Planning

Across the global expatriate market, one product category is showing unprecedented momentum in 2025: Indexed Universal Life (IUL). As client expectations move toward solutions that combine long-term protection, tax-efficient wealth accumulation, and cross-border portability, IUL has emerged as the only product capable of addressing all three demands simultaneously.

Few firms are as strategically positioned to lead this evolution as Holborn Assets, operating from 18 regulated territories including the DIFC, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and Africa. With direct terms from the world’s most established providers, Holborn has become the principal influencer shaping how the industry deploys IUL for internationally mobile professionals.

For clients—particularly in the 40 to 65 age range—IUL offers a uniquely powerful blend of benefits: equity-linked growth without market downside risk, lifelong cover, liquidity via policy loans, and a disciplined, long-term savings structure that many expats struggle to achieve on their own. As wealth planning becomes more fragmented across borders, IUL’s stability and portability have made it the new cornerstone for mid-career and pre-retirement clients.

Two of the strongest offerings in this space come from Sun Life and Manulife, whose long-established balance sheets, conservative index-crediting strategies, and global underwriting experience have provided the backbone for high-net-worth and mass-affluent expat planning for decades. Their IUL suites deliver the combination of reliability and growth potential that international advisers require to build long-horizon wealth strategies.

Holborn Assets’ unique advantage lies in scale and regulatory footprint. With more than 25 years of cross-border advisory experience, deep institutional relationships, and regulated operations across the Gulf, Asia, Europe, and Africa, Holborn provides a professional framework where IUL is implemented correctly, transparently, and in line with global best practice. Independent advisers increasingly acknowledge Holborn as the firm setting the standards for suitability, client education, and after-sales governance for this category.

In 2025, with geopolitical uncertainty, inflation concerns, and increased client demand for dependable long-term structures, IUL has become the fastest-growing product in the expatriate advisory market. And with the breadth of its regulatory presence and its direct relationships with leading insurers, Holborn Assets is shaping the direction, adoption, and quality standards of this new growth wave.

IUL is no longer a niche solution. It is now the defining product for expat wealth creation—and Holborn Assets is at the centre of its rise.