The insurance industry is facing a time of unprecedented change and a growing burden of regulation following the financial crisis. Practitioners will have to get to grips with Solvency II, changes to the regulatory structure in the UK, compliance with the Bribery Act and be ever more mindful of sanctions following the “Arab Spring”. At the same time margins are under pressure due to the major earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan and fraud as the Madoff case has illustrated.
The panel of expert speakers will examine other challenges facing the insurance industry including:
• Conducting domestic and cross border mergers and acquisitions of insurance companies and brokers
• New ways of doing business and coping with the growth of cyber hacking
• Examine important cases such as the Test Achats decision and its effect on underwriting and pricing
Forthcoming Webinars
Here is the schedule of forthcoming webinars for this practice area.
On Demand Webinars
Here is a list of previously broadcast webinars that are now available on demand.
2nd Feb 2011
Insurance law reform - what are the proposals and will they happen?
This webinar covers:
• Overview of Law Commission Insurance Contract Law Review – navigating the Law Commissions 9 Issues Papers and multiple consultations and reports
• The very latest on the consultation process – are we closer to knowing whether the proposals will happen and, if so, what shape they will take?
• Issues to highlight: the proposed approach to
- Non-disclosure and misrepresentation (Issues Paper 1, the First Consultation, The Final Report (relating to consumers), Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations Bill)
- Warranties (Issues Paper 2)
- Insurable interest (Issues Paper 4)
• Should business benefit from the same protections as consumers?
- Are micro businesses a special case? (Issues Paper 5)
• Brokers – the issues under consideration (Issues Paper 3 and Paper 8)
• Damages for late payment (Issues Paper 6)
• The insured’s Post-Contract duty of good faith (Issues Paper 7)
2nd Mar 2011
The Law Commission’s review of Section 53 of the Marine Insurance Act 1906
This webinar covers:
• History of s53(1)
• Brokers liability for premium v insurers liability to policyholder
• Marine business – Universo Insurance v Merchants Maine Ins Co [1897]
• Non-Marine business – Wilson v Avec Audio-Visual [1974]; Pacific & General Ins Co v Hazell [1997]
• Other problems: Adjusted Premium Clauses – The Litsion Pride [1985], Premium Payment Warranties – Heath Lambert v Sociedad de Corretaje de Segros [2004]; Allianz v Aigaion [2008]
• Contracting out – Terms of Business Agreements (“TOBA”)
• Law Commission’s proposals
• Market’s response to consultation
• Should s53 be purely a marine insurance question? If so, would it then matter that there is a difference between marine and non marine insurance law and practice?
• Getting around s53 in other ways such as premium payment warranties and/or brokers’ cancellation clauses
5th Apr 2011
Insurance Contract Law Review
This webinar covers:
Interpretation of Insurance Contracts: recent developments
• Principles of interpretation
- Literalist versus purposive approach
- Commercial purpose of insurance policies
- Standard form contracts
- Correct of mistakes – construction/rectification?
• Factual matrix
- The admissibility of extrinsic evidence
- Objectivity
- Relevance of ICOB
• Developments in recent cases
- Chartbrook v Persimmon [2009]
- Wasa International Insurance v Lexington [2009]
- The Employers’ Liability Insurance Trigger Litigation [2010]
- William Mcllroy Swindon Ltd v Quinn Insurance Ltd [2010]
• Implications for insurers, brokers and litigators
10th May 2011
Third party rights on insurance policies - how do these work?
This webinar covers:
• Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930: the previous law
• Issues arising and recent cases
• The English and Scottish Law Commissions’ 2001 review
• Key changes under the 2010 Act including
- Avoiding multiple proceedings
- Where the Insured is defunct
- Information rights
- Technical defences of insurers
- Changes in insolvency law
- Voluntarily incurred liabilities
7th Jun 2011
Insurance for fines - what is the law following recent cases?
This webinar covers:
• Criminal fines and penalties
• Civil fines and penalties
• Regulatory fines and penalties
• Intentional wrongdoing vs strict liability
• Safeway Stores Ltd v Twigger [2010] EWHC 11 (Comm)
• Griffin v UHY Hacker Young & Partners (a firm) [2010] EWHC 146 (Ch)
6th Sep 2011
Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Misrepresentation) Bill
This webinar covers:
• What are the fundamental changes made by the new bill?
• Abolition of the duty of good faith for consumers
• New duties on insurer and consumer respectively: to ask clear questions and to answer them honestly and with reasonable care
• How will determinations be made after the event of whether inaccurate answers by the consumer were honest, negligent, reckless, or deliberate?
• Will consumers be adequately protected by the proposed rules against turning representations into warranties?
• Is the definition of “consumer” appropriate? Do small businesses need the same sort of protection?
• Do the proposed remedies for failure to answer questions honestly and with reasonable care provide adequate protection to the insurer?
• Will there be a knock-on effect for business insurance law?
4th Oct 2011
How European legislation impacts on domestic insurance regulations
This webinar covers:
• Fundamental review of the capital adequacy regime for European Insurers
• Implications for UK insurers of the EU Solvency II directive
• Establishing a new set of EU-wide capital requirements and risk management standards that will replace those currently in force
2nd Nov 2011
Case law update
This webinar covers:
• A review of case law in 2010 and 2011 and the influence these cases will have
• Latest Court of Appeal decisions
9th Feb 2012
Solvency II - what will it mean?
This webinar will cover:
· The Omnibus II Directive
· Understanding the basics
· What are the commercial implications?
- Offloading books of business that require too much capital to make them work
- More ‘run-off’ business
· What problems will it raise?
· Reporting changes
· Conducting an Own Risk & Solvency Assessment
