Welcome to the 6th and final instalment of our weekly updates following the Hayne Royal Commission into the financial services industry. This week we focus on Recommendation 4.12, in which Hayne recommends that the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) be extended to other financial service providers, including insurers. Now that the full contents of the … Continue reading
How will customers interact with insurers in the future? Is insurtech hype? What technology is already being used? What are the legal implications of these new technologies? These questions were considered by the industry at the 2019 ANZIIF Insurtech Conference held last week in Sydney. Held in conjunction with Insurtech Australia and Insurtech New Zealand, … Continue reading
Welcome to Part 5 of Insurance After Hayne, a six part series on our Insurance Law Tomorrow blog focusing on the implications for insurers following the release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services industry. In this week’s article, we explore Commissioner Hayne’s recommendations on … Continue reading
Welcome to Part 4 of Insurance After Hayne, a six part series on our Insurance Law Tomorrow blog focusing on the implications for insurers following the release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services industry. In this week’s article, we explore Commissioner Hayne’s recommendations on … Continue reading
As the shadow of the Hayne Royal commission continues to loom over the financial services industry, insurers should be preparing for another change in the governance and compliance landscape which promises to further heighten the demands being made of Australia’s leading financial institutions. The ASX released its updated Corporate Governance Principles & Recommendations this week, … Continue reading
Welcome to Part 3 of Insurance After Hayne, a six part series on our Insurance Law Tomorrow blog focusing on the implications for insurers following the release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. This week, we shift our focus to one of the … Continue reading
Welcome to Part 2 of Insurance After Hayne, a series focusing on the implications for general and life insurers of the Royal Commission’s final report. In last week’s article, we provided an overview of the recommendations applicable to the insurance industry. This week, we look more closely at the recommendations regarding sales practices and policy … Continue reading
Welcome to Part 1 of “Insurance after Hayne”, a special series on our Insurance Law Tomorrow blog focusing on the implications for general and life insurers following the release of the Royal Commission’s final report. Each week, we will be sharing our thoughts on Commissioner Hayne’s recommendations through the lens of our insurance regulatory team. … Continue reading
Ahead of the release of the Financial Services Royal Commission’s final report, the Treasury has released a discussion paper seeking input in relation to disclosure in general insurance. The focus of the paper is to explore ways to improve current disclosure requirements to ensure positive consumer outcomes. The consultation process is open until 28 February … Continue reading
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has finalised a new Information Security Prudential Standard (CPS 234) coming into effect on 1 July 2019. CPS 234 will apply to all APRA regulated entities, including insurers. The purpose of CPS 234 is to ensure that an APRA regulated entity has measures in place to be resilient against … Continue reading
Starting 1 November 2018, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) replaces the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO) and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. The AFCA is now the ASIC approved External Dispute Resolution (EDR) scheme for consumer and small business complaints for Australian financial and credit industries. All financial firms should now … Continue reading
APRA has recently released the final versions of three Prudential Standards which will apply to private health insurers (PHIs) from 1 July 2019. New versions of the following prudential standards have been released: Prudential Standard CPS 510 – Governance; Prudential Standard CPS 520 – Fit and Proper; and Prudential Standard HPS 310 – Audit and … Continue reading
When on 18 December 2017 the Commonwealth Government announced its intention to extend unfair contract term provisions to insurance contracts, the industry collectively held its breath. Of course with the Hayne Royal Commission having commenced 14 December it seemed unlikely anything further would happen during 2018. However, not being predictable, on 27 June 2018 the … Continue reading
In the world of commercial and consumer transactions, parties often seek to redistribute risk. Risk can be transferred or assigned by a variety of different vehicles including warranties, waivers, guarantees or simply under the terms of the agreement. Often, the method adopted can exhibit a number of similarities with a contract of insurance, such as … Continue reading
The recent decision of Weir Services Australia Pty Limited v AXA Corporate Solutions Assurance [2017] NSWSC 259 is a cautionary tale for insureds seeking to preserve cover when settling third party claims. In order to succeed against the insurer, an insured must prove the existence and quantum of the insured’s liability to the third party. … Continue reading
“… ambiguity may be its only clear feature…” – Kirby P of the NSW Court of Appeal (as he then was) in McMillan v Mannix (1993) 31 NSWLR 538. 24 years later, the ambiguity plaguing Section 6 of Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1946 (NSW) remains as ambiguous as ever. Section 6 was described as … Continue reading
Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd v Smeaton [2016] ACTCA 59 A jet ski, no licence, and a freak accident which ended a boys’ afternoon out on the Ross River, Queensland. To top it off, a policy exclusion apparently excluded cover. Fortunately for the insured, section 54 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) (ICA) stepped in … Continue reading
We know you can share your car, your house, and just about anything else you want using an app on your phone – so why not your insurance policy? Peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance takes the concept of insurance back to its roots; to mutuality in the sharing of losses. It bypasses the primary insurance market to … Continue reading
If the High Court’s signal in Highway Hauliers was not clear enough, the Full Court of the Federal Court has further affirmed the pervasive remedial nature of section 54 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (ICA). Watkins Syndicate v Pantaenius concerned an appeal from a decision handed down in January this year (See https://www.insurancelawtomorrow.com/2016/10/section-54-of-the-insurance-contracts-act-a-hard-act-to-follow ). … Continue reading
Imagine an insurance policy which pays out on an insurable event without the need for involvement from a claims handler or even the policyholder lodging a claim. For today’s tech savvy consumer, hours spent on the phone to an agent or broker is a hangover from the analog age. Enter the smart contract. A smart … Continue reading
Blockchain – the technology behind the cryptocurrency bitcoin – is likely to disrupt the insurance industry in the same way it has banking and trading services. Could it also be the answer to insuring the sharing economy?… Continue reading
The GPS in your car. The Pokémon Go app on your smartphone. The heartrate monitor on your FitBit. These are all common examples of how the Internet of Things affects our daily lives.… Continue reading
You can already share a ride (Uber), a room (Airbnb), skills (Airtasker), a car (GoGet), your office (Sharedesk), a meal (EatWith), your clothes (Yerdle), even energy (PowerLedger). But how does the sharing economy affect insurance?… Continue reading
ASIC’s latest report (Report 492) on add-on insurance makes for sobering reading. Following a review of add-on general insurance products sold through car dealers, ASIC identifies a number of concerns. This follows earlier reports focused on consumer experiences (Report 470) and the sale of life insurance through car dealers (Report 471). The most recent report … Continue reading