Freehills’ Insurance team provides corporate advice and dispute resolution services for national and international insurers and brokers.

Our services include:

• Insurance industry regulation and compliance – advice on all aspects of the impact of the Financial Services Reform Act  2001 (Cth) (FSRA), including the requirements for licensing, financial services and products disclosure and the regulation of sales and marketing activities. We also provide advice on compliance systems and strategies, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) inquiries, surveillance activities and investigations, including potential criminal, civil and administrative actions arising out of breaches of the FSRA or licence conditions.
• Re-insurance treaty reviews – review of insurance treaties for due diligence, change of control and other purposes.
• 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.
• Product and insurance company rationalisations – advice on all aspects of product and company rationalisations including regulatory approach, due diligences and Part 9 and Division 3A court approvals.
• 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.
• 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.
• Indemnity issues – advice on exclusion clauses, insurance claims and disputes, professional indemnity insurance, coverage disputes with insurers and risk management solutions.
• Dispute resolution – commercial litigation advice, including professional indemnity advice, directors' and officers' liability/insurance, product liability, class actions, business interruption, and property and fire damage.
• Alternative dispute resolution – in our experience, many commercial, indemnity and insurance disputes can be quickly and successfully resolved by negotiation, mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. We act as the representative of clients in mediations, both privately convened mediations and those convened through the Supreme and Federal Courts.
• Direct offshore foreign insurers and discretionary mutual funds – advice to foreign insurers on how to respond to and take advantage of changes to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) when wishing to operate in Australia. Advice on the how and why of establishing a discretionary mutual fund as an alternative to traditional insurance.
  

Products

• 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 ASIC 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 services regulation 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.

Regulatory

• Promina Group Limited –Freehills advised the life and general insurance group, Promina, on its recent merger with Suncorp-Metway. Freehills’ Funds Management team provided advice on various regulatory aspects of the transaction, including in relation to obtaining regulatory approvals, disclosure to Suncorp pending shareholder approvals and reviewing Promina’s reinsurance arrangements, and the potential impact of the merger on the continuation of those arrangements.
• Challenger Financial Services Group Limited – Freehills advised Challenger Financial Services Group Limited on its agreement with MetLife Insurance Limited to a transfer by scheme of arrangement of MetLife’s A$2 billion annuity, allocated pension and personal superannuation liabilities. Under the terms of the agreement, Challenger will also receive approximately A$1 billion of Australian investment grade fixed interest assets and nearly A$1 billion cash.
  This matter involved a variety of regulatory issues related to the sale and purchase of a life insurance book of business, including the transfer of and assumption of liability under life policies, approval applications to the regulators, the application of the scheme amalgamation provisions of the Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth) and the approval applications to the court.
• AXIS Speciality Europe Limited – We recently assisted AXIS in preparing a submission to the Treasury on the regulation of direct offshore foreign insurers (DOFI) and will be assisting them to obtain regulatory approval as a DOFI. We have also just completed advising AXIS on the drafting and negotiation of distribution, marketing and secondment agreements to allow it to market and issue its specialty insurance lines in Australia  through a local Australian financial services licence holder.
• GE Mortgage Insurance Corporation and GE Mortgage Insurance Pty Ltd – We acted for these companies on the first Division 3A court approval merge of the mortgage insurance business of these two companies and the regulatory approvals required for the rationalisation and changed shareholdings of the companies

Insurance dispute resolution

• Air Services Australia – The regulator of air space in Australia, Air Services Australia, embarked on significant reform of Australian air space at the request of the Commonwealth Government. When Air Services Australia became concerned that it may not have properly implemented its regulatory powers, Freehills was instructed to review and advise on the entire process.
• CSR Limited – We have acted for CSR for more than a decade in major litigation, both in Australia and the United States (where we work with US counsel), for indemnity and damages cover from public and product liability insurers for multiple asbestos injury liability claims made in Australia and the US. The issues concern coverage and antitrust and economic tort causes of action.
• Deloitte – We successfully represented the actuaries from Trowbridge Deloitte in the Jackson (James Hardie) enquiry, as well as related regulatory and other proceedings concerning the asbestos funding crisis.
• Femcare – We acted on behalf of Femcare, the manufacturer of a well known female sterilisation device, and its insurer, in a major representative proceeding in the Federal Court as well as in numerous individual claims.
• Gympie Gold – We acted for the receivers of coal and gold miner Gympie Gold after it went into voluntary administration following a fire which devastated the Southland Hunter Valley coal mine in New South Wales. Our team advised on issues dealing with the extensive insurance claims.
• HIH Insurance Limited – We acted for the underwriters of the directors’ and officers’ liability policy of the HIH Group. The liquidation of the HIH Group, one of Australia’s largest general insurers and reported to be Australia’s largest corporate collapse at over A$5 billion, led to various issues and queries as to the manner in which the insurance and financial services industry is regulated in Australia. We were involved in all aspects of this matter, including the HIH Royal Commission.
• Lend Lease – We acted for Lend Lease in the longest running coronial inquiry in Australia’s history, the Thredbo ski village landslide in New South Wales, which killed 18 people and caused significant economic disruption. Freehills also represented Lend Lease in the various multi-party commercial proceedings in various insurance issues.
• Lloyd’s – We regularly provide advice to the Corporation of Lloyd’s, including advice to Lloyd’s in relation to the alternative dispute resolution clauses contained in their standard policy wordings, to encourage the use of alternative dispute resolution techniques for resolving disputes between corporate insureds and their insurers.
• New South Wales Treasury Corporation – Following the HIH collapse, we acted for the New South Wales Treasury Corporation in connection with issues arising under the state’s compulsory Building Warranty Insurance scheme under Part 6 of the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW).
• Prime Infrastructure – We acted for Prime Infrastructure, the owner of the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal in Queensland, in the ISR claim which followed the collapse of a reclaiming machine.
• Product contamination / extortion client – We have advised a major corporation through a successfully resolved claim involving tens of millions of dollars for business disruption and product withdrawal arising from criminal extortion and product contamination.
• Promina – We acted for Royal & SunAlliance in the initial public offering (IPO) of Promina, the largest composite insurance company in Australia. We advised on the due diligence conducted on the float company and on the preparation of the prospectus for the IPO.
• Santos – Freehills acted for petroleum producer and explorer Santos following a gas leak and fire at the South Australian Moomba Gas Plant. We provided advice on the insurance claims resulting from business interruption and also advised on commercial claims.
• 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.
• United Medical Protection – We acted for the provisional liquidator of United Medical Protection, the largest medical defence organisation in Australia. The case made corporate history because it is the only time a company has been successfully restructured and able to come out of provisional liquidation.
• Victorian State Government – We successfully acted for the Victorian Government and its related state entities following the explosion and fire at Esso’s Longford Gas Plant in September 1998, including representation at the Longford Royal Commission and the related class action. The class action, brought on behalf of users of gas in Victoria against Esso, was the largest in Australian legal history, involving claims between A$300 million and A$1.3 billion.
• Woodside Energy – We advise Woodside Energy in relation to its risk management and insurance programs.