Insurance

We advise on a wide range of work for general insurers, reinsurers and life assurers from advising on regulatory requirements, policy and contractual matters, to handling major transactions and claims and process dealing with court schemes of arrangement of transfer.

Regularly advising on UK and EU insurance legislation and issues arising on a day-to-day basis in insurance businesses, we have strong experience of, and a strong reputation for, assisting insurers on structuring and implementing business transfer schemes and schemes of arrangement.  

We help prepare industry documentation such as general insurance, life assurance and pension policies and contracts, agreements with intermediaries, administration and management agreements, and reinsurance arrangements. We are particularly experienced in advising insurers (and other financial services organisations) on IT and data protection issues.  This ranges from drafting or reviewing contracts for new or upgraded IT systems; licences for the use of systems; outsourcing and insourcing agreements; and advising on IT issues and disputes.  We advise on data protection issues across the spectrum of an insurer’s operations.  For further details, please visit IP, Technology & Commerical.

Our transactional work includes acting on acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures. We have managed restructurings and reorganisations including implementing court schemes of arrangement of transfer of insurance business.  

Experience

• Acting for Scottish Life on its £1.1 billion demutualisation and transfer of its business to Royal London in 2001. 
• Advising a UK life assurer on reorganising and pooling a number of notional property funds.  
• Acting for the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group on the merger of its UK life businesses by a Court transfer scheme in 2003.
• Advising a general insurer on the reorganisation of its share capital including conversion of listed and unlisted preference shares into Irredeemable Preference Shares.  
• Acting as sole legal adviser advising on, managing and coordinating a transfer of an insurance business of another insurance company by a business transfer scheme approved by the High Court of Justice under The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. 
• Advising on the insurance mediation regulations and assisting in designing systems for compliance. 
• Advising a leading life insurer on its PPFM (Principles and practices of financial management) and assisting in producing policyholder guides.  
• Advising on insurance regulatory requirements, including compliance with new capital adequacy regulations assisting various insurers in negotiating IT procurement and systems outsourcing contracts. 
• Advising on a number of court schemes of arrangement of business transfer schemes for general and life insurers advising a general insurer on a £23 million placing of preference shares.