Expert Guides - Insurance and Reinsurance

The changing landscape of reinsurance in South Africa

Amongst a raft of proposed legislative and regulatory changes impacting the financial services industry in South Africa, the Financial Services Board ("FSB"), the authority that regulates, inter alia, the activities of insurers and reinsurers in South Africa, has proposed a number of changes to the...

25/08/2016 Ernie van der Vyver, Clyde & Co US, South Africa

Will The American Law Institute’s Forthcoming “Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance” Codify U.S. Insurance Law?

The American Law Institute (“ALI”) is a leading independent organization in the United States “producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize and otherwise improve the law.”

25/08/2016 Laura A Foggan, Crowell & Moring, US

In re Deepwater Horizon: A Year and a Half Later

When the Supreme Court of Texas delivered its opinion in In re Deepwater Horizon on February 13, 2015, commentators across the country pondered the impact of the opinion in the insurance industry

25/08/2016 Stephen P Pate, Norton Rose Fulbright, US

Canadian Appellate Court Holds that Reinsureds Must Establish Legal Liability in the Absence of a Follow Settlements Clause

In Swiss Reinsurance Company v. Camarin Limited, the British Columbia Court of Appeal clarified the test for proving liability under a reinsurance contract absent a follow the settlements clause

25/08/2016 Dominic T Clarke, Blaney McMurtry, Canada Avi Sharabi, Blaney McMurtry, Canada

Hostile takeover litigation involving the Bermuda insurance and reinsurance market

There has been an increasing amount of M&A transaction activity in the Bermuda re/insurance market in recent years

25/08/2016 Alex J Potts, Sedgwick Chudleigh, Bermuda

The Insurance Act 2015: The increased disclosure burden imposed on insureds

Much has been written about the implementation of the Insurance Act 2015 (“the Act”) which came into effect on 12th August 2016, in particular with regard to the possible increased liabilities of insurers by the introduction of the proportionate remedies regime and the shift in the burden onto...

25/08/2016 Simon Sloane, Fieldfisher, United Kingdom

Last trends in D&O policies and bail cover in Spain

In the last years, it can be perceived in Spain an important increase of the corporate crimes, such as fraud, improper management, misappropriation, etc., which are attributed to the directors and officers of listed companies or financial entities with a huge media impact

25/08/2016 Luis Alfonso Fernández Manzano, Hogan Lovells, Spain

Claim made clauses – The Italian debate

In the absence of a specific discipline, it has been for about 10 years that in Italy we discuss about the validity of claims made clauses

25/08/2016 David M Marino, DLA Piper, Italy

2010 Unrest and 2011 Floods – re/insurance lessons learned from Thailand?

In 2010 and 2011 Thailand experienced unrest and major floods, which tested the resources and capacity of the local insurance market and its offshore reinsurers to respond to and deal with complex, high value, high profile claims and litigation

25/08/2016 Alan Polivnick, Watson Farley & Williams, Thailand

Is nanotech changing the insurance industry's DNA?

Our technological powers increase, but the side effects and potential hazards also escalate” – Alvin Toffler

25/08/2016 Louise Cantrill, Henry Davis York, Australia

Revisiting the CGL Policy and the Duty to Defend in Canada: The Triggering Event

The standard wordings in a commercial general liability policy (CGL) will frequently read as follows:

Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability

Insuring Agreement:

To pay on behalf of the insured those sums which the Insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of:

(b) Property...

15/06/2015 Harmon C Hayden, Bilkey Law, Canada

Common Cross-Border Insurance and Reinsurance issues and our experience of recent Natural Catastrophes, as an example

The international insurance and reinsurance market has been impacted in recent years by a number of major natural catastrophes, including flooding in Thailand and Central Europe, wildfires in New South Wales and Southern California and earthquakes in New Zealand. This article examines some of the...

15/06/2015 Costas Frangeskides, Holman Fenwick Willan, United Kingdom

UK Insurance Contract Law Reform

On 12 February 2015 the UK Parliament passed the Insurance Act 2015 which will introduce the most significant changes to English insurance law for at least 100 years and arguably the most significant changes ever.

The Act will come into force on 12 August 2016. Some leading insurers, however, have...

15/06/2015 Peter Rogan, Ince & Co, United Kingdom

Complaints’ handling - New rules

The Italian insurance regulator, IVASS, recently issued new rules regarding complaints handling by insurance undertakings in compliance with the recently enacted European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) guidelines. The new rules have been introduced as amendments to IVASS...

15/06/2015 David M Marino, DLA Piper, Italy

Singapore At 50: The Evolution of a Global (Re)Insurance Hub

Fifteen years ago Mr Lee Hsein Loong, then the Chairman of Singapore's insurance regulator, now the country's Prime Minister, set out the goal of Singapore becoming a leading Asian insurance and reinsurance hub by the year 2003. This objective has been met and significantly surpassed, with Singapore...

15/06/2015 Mark Errington, RPC, Singapore

Issues arising out of business interruption insurance following street protests

Introduction

Given Hong Kong's reputation as a thriving and peaceful city, it must have seemed quite strange to many Euromoney readers to watch protestors descend onto parts of the central business district of Hong Kong in September 2014. While certain major roads were blocked by the protestors...

15/06/2015 Antony Sassi, RPC, Hong Kong Denise Pong, RPC, Hong Kong

Proportionate Liability In Australia

Approximately 10 years ago legislation was introduced in the various Australian states and territories which significantly changed the law regarding contribution between joint wrongdoers. Although there is some variation in the legislation, the concept of proportionate liability applies throughout...

15/06/2015 Peter Rashleigh, DLA Piper, Australia

Breaking down barriers in policyholder- insurer disputes over counsel selection and payment

Corporate policyholders/insureds who have been sued share a common interest with their liability insurers–successfully defending those lawsuits. Yet insureds and insurers often disagree on the choice of defense counsel and how much the insurer must pay toward legal bills. These disputes are costly...

01/06/2014 Michael M Marick, Hinshaw & Culbertson, US

Mitigating your claim away: An unmitigated disaster

If Jane Austen had been an Insurance Claims Manager, she might have said, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a policyholder who sustains an insured loss must take all measures reasonably within its power to mitigate it. Quite so, but what does this mean in practice? Must the insured incur...

01/06/2014 Fred Hawke, Clayton Utz, Australia

Ameliorative provisons: Moderating the contract or changing the cover?

Australia's much-litigated section 54 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) is an example of a common class of statutory provision, designed to moderate the harsh effect of an insurance contract where, because of the insured's failure to comply strictly with a term, cover can be refused...

01/06/2014 Fred Hawke, Clayton Utz, Australia

Overseas catastrophe bond issuance by reinsurance company

In recent years, with the ever-growing insurance and reinsurance market in China, reinsurance companies are seeking more ways to disperse risks. As a traditional way to transfer risks in developed insurance markets, catastrophe bonds (cat bonds) have commended themselves to the Chinese reinsurance...

01/06/2014 Hao Zhan, AnJie Law Firm, China

Leaving the storm behind

The Spanish economy grew in 2013 at its fastest pace in almost six years, raising well-grounded hopes that the country is finally on the road to recovery. Even if the insurance sector had resisted the crisis strongly, these prospects are welcomed by insurers and mediators who have lived through...

01/06/2014 Joaquín Ruiz Echauri, Hogan Lovells, Spain

Insurance and reinsurance law

These are interesting and challenging time for the insurance and reinsurance industry and for the lawyers who serve it.

A number of not altogether unrelated events have affected the way in which insurance and reinsurance companies will operate in the future. These changes will impact upon their need...

01/06/2014 Clive O'Connell, Goldberg Segalla, United Kingdom

The Settlement Exclusion In Western Canada

Consider the following: The insurer has issued a standard homeowner's policy to the insured. A developer is engaged in building a new house on adjacent property. In the course of so doing, a large amount of earth and rock is placed on the adjacent property. As is often the case, this volume of...

01/06/2014 Harmon C Hayden, Bilkey Law, Canada

Is your D&O policy bankruptcy-ready?

Protection of the personal assets of board members and C-suite corporate officers through indemnification and insurance is a challenge for financially-troubled companies seeking to retain and hire the best people to help navigate the difficult business climate. SEC and FDIC regulators, among others,...

01/06/2014 Rachel S Kronowitz, Gilbert, US

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