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 claims handling, industry codes and cooperation with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), which replaced the Financial Ombudsman Service on…

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 governance, culture and remuneration, and particular his focus on the people in control: “There can be no doubt that the…

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, and while the spotlight is shone most brightly on ASX listed entities, the ramifications reach further, affecting all insurers…

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 less-anticipated areas of reform: an insured’s duty of disclosure. Hayne’s report proposes changes to two provisions of the Insurance Contracts…

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 terms. 1. No hawking of Insurance The Commissioner has recommended that hawking of insurance products to retail clients should…

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. To make sure you receive the latest updates in our series, subscribe to our blog on the right hand side.…

The Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) report ‘Integrity, Fairness and Efficiency—An Inquiry into Class Action Proceedings and Third-Party Litigation Funders’[1], was released on 25 January 2019. The report makes 24 recommendations in an effort to ‘shake up’ a now-booming sector.  The ALRC received over 75 submissions in response to their initial Discussion Paper[2], including a submission by Norton Rose Fulbright partners, Nicole Wearne, Matthew Ellis and Andrew Riordan, drawing on their…