Hong Kong – Page 18 – HAC Consulting Group

This is our regular update of new insurance regulatory developments relevant to the Asia-Pacific* and India, new insurance-related case law in Hong Kong, Australia and England and interesting insurance articles from across the world.

Insurance regulatory updates

Hong Kong

The Insurance Authority (IA) has published the consultation conclusions in respect of two draft regulatory instruments – the Guideline on “Fit and Proper” Criteria for Licensed Insurance Intermediaries under the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41) and the Guideline on Continuing Professional Development for Licensed Insurance Intermediaries.

Singapore

Ratings issued by Credit Rating Agencies in Singapore will continue to be recognised and used in the EU

India

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has produced a circular in relation to the implementation of IRDAI (Non-Linked Insurance Products) Regulations, 2019 and IRDAI (Unit Linked Insurance Products) Regulations, 2019

IRDAI has released a circular regarding Use and File procedures for certain modifications under existing products and riders offered by Life Insurers

Malaysia

Bank Negara Malaysia has released an exposure draft which sets out the revisions to the Operating Costs Controls for Life Insurance and Family Takaful Business policy document

Australia

The Australian Treasury is seeking comments on its consultation on extending the unfair contract terms regime to insurance contracts

Australia’s five largest banking and financial services institutions have paid a total of $119.7 million in compensation as at 30 June 2019 to customers who suffered loss or detriment because of non-compliant advice given by financial advisers.

This compensation has been paid under review and remediation programs initiated as a result of the ASIC review reported on in Report 515 Financial advice: Review of how large institutions oversee their advisers (REP 515). REP 515 outlined findings from ASIC’s review of how effectively the banks and financial services institutions supervised their financial advisers.

ASIC has issued guidance to superannuation trustees, reminding them that using improper inducements to influence employers in their choice of default fund is illegal.

UK

The FCA has extended the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) to FCA solo-regulated firms on 9 December 2019. The SM&CR aims to strengthen individual accountability and help set a new standard of personal conduct for people working in financial services.

The FCA has released a Policy Statement which summarises the feedback received to its Consultation Paper on changes to optimise the SM&CR, its response to the feedback and sets out the final rules. These rules are relevant to all SM&CR firms, including CMCs.

In general, the proposed changes to the SM&CR have been implemented as consulted on, which include:

confirming that the Head of Legal function is excluded from the requirement to be approved as a Senior Manager
clarifying the requirements and scope of the Certification Regime
extending Senior Manager Conduct Rule 4 (SC4) to non-approved Executive Directors at Limited Scope firms

FCA provides clarity on current cryptoassets regulations

The Financial Conduct Authority has published a package of pension related proposals designed to improve the quality of pension transfer advice, and to help consumers get better value from their pension.
The package includes a proposed ban on contingent charging for pension transfer advice, an update on the work the FCA has been doing on non-workplace pensions and the final policy statement for the Retirement Outcomes Review. The proposed ban on contingent charging is designed to protect customers from the conflicts of interest which arise where a financial adviser only gets paid if a transfer goes ahead.

Insurance cases

Chubb denied summary judgment in US D&O coverage dispute

Insurance articles / news

Clouds over big Chinese auditor derail IPO, fundraising plans of others

Australia: Insurers call some proposals of anti-competition watchdog “flawed”

China:Listed insurers looking at 1H profit surge

Swiss Re beats expectations with US$953m H1 profit

Willis Towers Watson has acquired Risk Capital Advisors, a specialist M&A broker with offices in Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Melbourne and Sydney for an undisclosed sum.