In Gard Marine & Energy Ltd ( A company incorporated under the laws of Bermuda) v (1) Lloyd Tunnicliffe (2) Glacier Reinsurance AG (A company incorporated under the laws of Switzerland) (3) Agnew Higgins Pickering & Co Ltd [2009] EWHC 2388 (Comm), the English Commercial Court was asked to consider whether the dispute between Gard and Glacier Re should be heard by the English courts. …
Read More UK: English Court Rules That it Has Jurisdiction to Hear Reinsurance Claim Between a Bermudian Insurer and a Swiss Reinsurer

On 16 October 2009, the Law Commissioner, David Hertzell addressed a meeting of the British Insurance Law Association to highlight some of the key developments on this project. …
Read More UK: Commissioner Highlights Key Future Developments for Insurance Contract Law Reform Project

According to the Provisional Statistics on Hong Kong Insurance Business for 2008 recently published by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority (IA), gross premiums for general insurance business increased by 11.3% to HK$27 billion and net premiums were up 12.3% to HK$19.2 billion, compared with 2007. …

Read More HK: Insurance Market Performance in 2008 and 2009 to Date

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) recently issued a circular clarifying that insurers, corporate insurance brokers and individual insurance intermediaries are not required or permitted to be licensed by the SFC under the provisions of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (“SFO”) (Chapter 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong) to engage in promoting, offering or selling investment linked assurance schemes (“ILAS”) to the Hong Kong public (the “Circular”). …
Read More HK: SFC Clarifies the Licensing Requirements for the Promotion, Offering or Sale of Investment Linked Assurance Schemes to the Public

Judgment in the case of Equitas v R&Q Reinsurance (Brandywine) is expected to be handed down later this month.  In this case, Equitas is attempting to establish R&Q’s liability for a sample of more than 4,000 LMX spiral claims arising out of Kuwait Airways losses during the first Gulf war and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. …
Read More UK: LMX Spiral Claims – Key Judgment Imminent

On 1 October 2009 the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) published three market communications outlining proposals on a variety of developments to its regulatory framework. Initially the proposals are only intended to apply to Class 4 and Class 3B insurers and reinsurers due to their high risk profiles. …
Read More Bermuda: The Bermuda Monetary Authority Publishes Market Communications on its Regulatory Framework

In Secretary of State for Transport v Stagecoach South Western Trains Ltd [2009] EWHC 2431, the High Court decided that a dispute over the method of calculation of future payments under a franchise agreement came within the relevant arbitration clause. 

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Read More UK: Arbitration Clause Covers Disputes About Future Claims