Definition of tontine

tontine \TAHN-teen or tahn-TEEN\ (noun) - A joint financial arrangement
whereby the participants usually contribute equally to a prize that is awarded
entirely to the participant who survives all the others.
   
   "In the Democratic presidential nominations for 2008, each candidate is a subscriber
to the same tontine, and the one surviving subscriber gets to run for president."
   
   Tontines are named after their creator, Neapolitan banker Lorenzo Tonti. In 1653, Tonti coaxed investors to buy shares in a fund he created in which they earned dividends annually. When one of them died, his or her share of the profits was redistributed among the survivors. When the last investor died, the capital reverted to the state. Louis the XIV of France used tontines to save his ailing treasury and to fund municipal projects. Private tontines, where the last surviving investor got the cash, became popular throughout Europe and the U.S. Eventually, though, tontines were banned, as it was too tempting for unscrupulous investors to insure that they got the money by bumping off their fellow subscribers.



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