The Freehills Insurance team is able to provide you with strategic, technical and practical advice on all aspects of product licensing, design, manufacture, marketing, distribution and disclosure. Our people have a broad range of experience at both the practical and technical level in designing and distributing a wider range of insurance products.

It is not sufficient to only know the law that applies to the regulation of insurance products; you must understand how they operate on a practical level and the administrative and technological parameters within which they must operate.

Distribution agreements and outsourcing can be important aspects of efficient product manufacture and performance and advice in these areas is an important aspect of the services which we can provide.

We can also help you with all the legal, regulatory and practical aspects of product migration and rationalisations, including Court approved schemes under the Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth) and Insurance Act 1973 (Cth).

Our services include:

• Insurance policies – advice on the drafting, interpretation and conditions of insurance policies, risk management and compliance issues, subrogation, contribution and coordinate liability, the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and other relevant legislation.
• Insurance companies mergers, acquisitions and restructures – advice in relation to all aspects of insurance company acquisitions and mergers, including all regulatory approvals and due diligence reports. We have extensive experience in the rationalisation of insurance businesses and statutory  funds and have successfully obtained Court approved rationalisations under Part 9 of the Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth) and Division 3 A of the Insurance Act 1973 (Cth).
• Brokers/agents obligations and responsibilities – advice on professional indemnity; directors and officers duties; employers liability, including workers compensation; public liability, product liability, medical malpractice, property, transport, maritime and aviation.
• Distribution – advice on all the legal and commercial aspects of the distribution of products including distribution agreements, outsourcing and intermediaries.
• Disclosure – advice on how and what to disclose and when. We can advise you on electronic disclosure, marketing, compliance with the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth), the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and the SPAM Act 2003 (Cth) and the best ways of simplifying your product disclosure obligations.

The Freehills Insurance team regularly advises on all aspects of product licensing, design, manufacture, marketing, distribution and disclosure. Some examples of our insurance practices’ most recent experience includes:

• Swiss Re – We advised on a novel directors’ and officers’ insurance arrangement for global reinsurer Swiss Re. The parties involved in the matter came from around the globe and included a captive reinsurer in Bermuda, insurance brokers in Singapore, parties in London and Melbourne, the client in Sydney and team members from Freehills Sydney and Brisbane.
• Allianz – Freehills is advising Allianz in relation to the development of and launch of their new suite of death and disability risk products.
• Asteron –Freehills is advising Asteron in relation to their new longevity income stream product. This includes advising on innovative products, structuring and regulatory issues.
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) – We act for CBA life insurance subsidiaries Commonwealth Insurance Holdings Limited and The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited in relation to the merger of their life insurance businesses under a court approved Part 9 scheme under the Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth). We also advised CBA on unit pricing matters including negotiating with Australian Securities and Investments Commission on enforceable undertakings.
• AAMI– We advised AAMI on all aspects of compliance with the financial services reform regime and provided ongoing advice in relation to compliance with financial standards regulations on new products, disclosure and advertising.
• Atradius – We advised Atradius in relation to a successful policy dispute.
• Reliance Re– We assisted Cameron Deacon in providing advise to Reliance Re on a disputed reinsurance claim by an Australian company.