We have previously reported here, on the Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau Bill, which is currently subject to scrutiny in the UK Parliament. The Bill seeks to establish a ‘fund of last resort’, to be used in instances where an employer is insolvent or does not hold insurance compulsory under the Employer’s Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. This is seen to be a particular problem in claims relating to asbestos. 


Read More UK: Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau Bill 2009-10 – Update

Alastair Darling’s 2010 Budget includes provisions designed to help asbestos trusts which were set up by companies prior to 24 March 2010 to meet their asbestos liabilities. Under the proposal, the trustees of such a trust would be exempt from income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax retrospectively from 6 April 2006. 


Read More UK: Alastair Darling’s Budget Proposes Tax Break for Asbestos Trusts

The NAIC’s International Insurance Relations (G) Committee (the “Committee”), chaired by Commissioner Kevin McCarty (Florida) met on Friday, March 26, 2010, during  the NAIC Spring National Meeting.  The Committee received an update on International Strategy and Action Plans and discussed International Association of Insurance Supervisors (“IAIS”) strategic planning, including the Common Framework or Supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (“Common Framework”). 


Read More NAIC Update: International Insurance Relations (G) Committee

The Law Commission has published an Issues Paper considering whether an insurer should be liable for loss caused as a result of its unjustified refusal to pay a claim. The paper suggests that the current position regarding an insurer’s post-contractual duty of good faith be changed so that damages would be available where an insurer breaches its duties by refusing to pay out on time. 
Read More UK: Law Commission Publishes Paper on Damages for Late Payment and the Insurer’s Duty of Good Faith

The NAIC issued a press release (the “Release”) earlier this month announcing its intent to hold a public hearing on the emergence of stranger originated/owned annuity transactions (“STAT”).  STATs are similar to stranger owned life insurance transactions (“STOLI”), which have been the subject of regulatory scrutiny for a number of years. 


Read More NAIC Announces Intent to Hold Hearing on Stranger Owned Annuities

As previously reported here, the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Bill was introduced into Parliament in November 2009. It is designed, in particular, to remedy the shortcomings of current legislation in protecting the rights of third party claimants against insurers of the liabilities of insolvent defendants. 
Read More UK: Third Party (Rights Against Insurers) Bill

In his remarks Monday, March 15, 2010, at the World Insurance Forum in Bermuda, Jeremy Cox, Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), announced that, during a break at the Forum, CEO Cox and Dr. Monica Mächler, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the BMA and FINMA. 


Read More Newsflash from the World Insurance Forum