Tag archives: insurance

New Australian laws target illegal phoenix activity

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Lachlan CrosbieBy Jacques Jacobs and Lachlan Crosbie on Posted in Industry news, Regulation
Illegal phoenix activity has long been on the radar of regulators in Australia. The impact of this activity has been particularly severe on owners of negligently built properties and, in particular, apartment developments. In response, the government has now moved to tighten up the rules around illegal phoenix activity.  In particular, the new rules will … Continue reading

Would you like insurance with that…in three days? ASIC dines out on caryard insurance & warranty sales

Photo of Ray GiblettPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Ray Giblett and Timothy Chan on Posted in Legislation
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is seeking feedback on a draft product intervention order in relation to add-on motor vehicle financial risk products. The release of the revised draft intervention order follows ASIC’s public consultation process in October 2019. The objective of the intervention order is to reduce the mis-selling of insurance products … Continue reading

COVID-19: Australian government announces insolvent trading relief for directors

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Tricia HobsonBy Jacques Jacobs and Tricia Hobson on Posted in Industry news, Topics
In what is sure to be welcome news, the Australian government has announced temporary relief for company directors from Australia’s notoriously tough insolvent trading laws. This is a sensible decision, which is good news for directors (and their insurers) in what is proving to be unprecedented times. Directors face personal liability if the company trades … Continue reading

Paying a Cyber Ransom – should you do it?

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Chris ChiversBy Jacques Jacobs and Chris Chivers on Posted in Industry news
Ransomware incidents continue to be the most common cyber-related attacks against businesses. Ransomware is a type of malware that blocks access to a computer system (or threatens to release data) until or unless a sum of money is paid (often in Bitcoin). When a ransomware attack strikes, it can have an immediate and debilitating effect … Continue reading

OAIC releases 12-month data breach scheme report – encourages entities to move beyond compliance

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Eden WinokurPhoto of James MakowiakBy Jacques Jacobs, Matthew Ellis, Eden Winokur and James Makowiak on Posted in Industry news
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) this week released its 12-month Insights Report for the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) Scheme (Report).  The Report shows trends and noteworthy statistics from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019, reporting an uptick in notifications and identifying the most common cyber trends leading to a requirement to … Continue reading

Enforceable code provisions: an interview with John Price, Lead Ombudsman for General Insurance Decisions, AFCA

Photo of Matthew EllisPhoto of Ray GiblettBy Matthew Ellis and Ray Giblett on Posted in Industry news
Continuing on from our blog series “Insurance After Hayne”, we will be posting short interviews with industry and legal experts on the Hayne recommendations and the proposed reforms to the industry.   In the second instalment of the series, we were joined by John Price, Lead Ombudsman for General Insurance Decisions at the Australian Financial Complaints … Continue reading

Back to the drawing board as design and distribution laws pass Parliament

Photo of Ray GiblettPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Ray Giblett, Matthew Ellis and Timothy Chan on Posted in Legislation
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Powers) Act 2019 passed Parliament last week and received royal assent shortly after. It introduces design and distribution obligations into the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), requiring financial services entities to consider the design of their retail financial products and the way they are distributed. … Continue reading

Privacy Shake-Up – Tougher Penalties and More Funding

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Eden WinokurPhoto of James MakowiakBy Jacques Jacobs, Matthew Ellis, Eden Winokur and James Makowiak on Posted in Regulation
What’s happened? The Australian Attorney-General’s department has announced a proposed new regime that would make changes to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act). The proposed changes would see a significant expansion of the powers afforded to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), particularly with respect to the scope of penalties that may be … Continue reading

Removal of the claims handling exemption – what will it mean for insurers?

Photo of Matthew EllisPhoto of Ray GiblettBy Matthew Ellis and Ray Giblett on Posted in Industry news, Regulation
A Norton Rose Fulbright webinar with John Anning, Insurance Council of Australia Continuing on from our blog series “Insurance After Hayne”, we will be posting short interviews with industry and legal experts on the Hayne recommendations and the proposed reforms to the industry. In the first of these interviews, Ray Giblett (insurance partner, Sydney) sat … Continue reading

A look into the future of insurance…technology partnerships and AI

Photo of Ray GiblettPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Ray Giblett and Timothy Chan on Posted in Industry news, Topics
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

Insurance After Hayne Part 5 – The Three Cs: Claims, Codes and Complaints. A Triple Threat or Opportunity?

Photo of Ray GiblettPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Ray Giblett, Matthew Ellis and Timothy Chan on Posted in Industry news
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

Insurance After Hayne Part 4 – Spotlight on culture, governance and pay

Photo of Matthew EllisPhoto of Ray GiblettPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Matthew Ellis, Ray Giblett and Timothy Chan on Posted in Industry news
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

Insurance after Hayne Part 1 – What do insurers need to do following the Royal Commission’s final report?

Photo of Ray GiblettPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Ray Giblett, Matthew Ellis and Timothy Chan on Posted in Industry news
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

Less is more? Do insurance customers know what they’ve been given?

Photo of Ray GiblettPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Ray Giblett and Timothy Chan on Posted in Regulation
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

A Trend Has Emerged – Third Quarter Report on Data Breaches by the OAIC

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Eden WinokurPhoto of Matthew FontiBy Jacques Jacobs, Matthew Ellis, Eden Winokur and Matthew Fonti on Posted in Legislation
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recently released its third quarterly report in relation to data breaches notified under the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) Scheme between 1 July and 30 September 2018. For this quarter, the OAIC received 245 data breach notifications which is on par with the previous quarter. With this being … Continue reading

New super ombudsman AFCA commences operation today

Photo of Ray GiblettPhoto of Timothy ChanBy Ray Giblett and Timothy Chan on Posted in Industry news
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

Cloud cover: 5 tips to mitigate the risks of cloud computing services

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Eden WinokurPhoto of Matthew FontiBy Jacques Jacobs, Matthew Ellis, Eden Winokur and Matthew Fonti on Posted in Industry news
In mid-2017, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that almost a third of sampled businesses are using commercial cloud computing services.  This year, Gartner reported Australian businesses will spend $4.6 billion on cloud services (an 18.5% increase from last year). Below we highlight some of the risks for businesses associated with the use of cloud … Continue reading

Skills Down, Claims Up: What the Infrastructure Boom Means for Insurers

Photo of James RigneyPhoto of Nina O'KeefeBy James Rigney and Nina O'Keefe on Posted in Industry news
The recent collapse of a 50 year-old suspension bridge in Genoa Italy is a stark reminder of the devastating impact that failed infrastructure projects can have. Roads and rail, hospitals and schools, airports and stadiums: there’s no doubt Australia is going through a turbulent infrastructure boom, perhaps its biggest yet. The Federal government has announced … Continue reading

Fraudulent non-disclosure, avoidance and refusal to advance – Federal Court decides insurers can avoid advancing defence costs to Cranston and Onley

Photo of Tricia HobsonPhoto of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Andrea GarrattPhoto of Elizabeth KordicBy Tricia Hobson, Jacques Jacobs, Andrea Garratt and Elizabeth Kordic on Posted in Cases
The Full Court of the Federal Court in the last couple of weeks considered a question that by some has been considered a “sleeper issue” which had not previously received judicial attention. The question was whether a final adjudication clause in a conduct exclusion prevents Underwriters from relying on their statutory right to avoid a … Continue reading

Data breaches notifications are on the rise

Photo of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Eden WinokurPhoto of Alexander ProudfordBy Jacques Jacobs, Matthew Ellis, Eden Winokur and Alexander Proudford on Posted in Industry news
As many readers know, the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme (NDB Scheme) came into force on 22 February 2018.  It has resulted in changes to Australia’s privacy law in relation to notification obligations on individuals and organisations that experience an eligible data breach. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recently released its second quarterly … Continue reading

 Cyber aggregation risk – the elephant in the cyber room

Photo of Anna TippingPhoto of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Eden WinokurPhoto of Sundar OdgersBy Anna Tipping, Jacques Jacobs, Eden Winokur and Sundar Odgers on Posted in Industry news
  Although cyber insurance is seen as one of the biggest opportunities in insurance and reinsurance right now, the risks to insurers and insureds could be equally large. One significant threat is ‘cyber risk aggregation’. What is ‘cyber risk aggregation’? Risk aggregation in the insurance industry refers to multiple claims being generated by the same … Continue reading

The results are in: weekly data breach notifications have increased fivefold!

Photo of Eden WinokurPhoto of Jacques JacobsPhoto of Matthew EllisPhoto of Alexander ProudfordBy Eden Winokur, Jacques Jacobs, Matthew Ellis and Alexander Proudford on Posted in Legislation
The Notifiable Data Breach Scheme (NDB Scheme) came into force on 22 February 2018.  It has resulted in changes to Australia’s privacy law in relation to notification obligations on individuals and organisations that experience a data breach.  In this post, we look at the first quarterly report issued by the Office of the Australian Information … Continue reading
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