Re Legal and General Assurance Society Ltd and another company [2020] EWHC 2299 (Ch) On 7 September 2020, the mature-savings business (the “Business”) of Legal and General Assurance Society Limited (“LGAS”) transferred to ReAssure Limited (“ReAssure”). That transfer was the result of an agreement signed in December 2017, under which ReAssure agreed to purchase the … Read more

With UK/EU deal negotiations in the balance and a no-deal scenario still possible, a panel of experts from Herbert Smith Freehills, the Financial Conduct Authority and McCann FitzGerald (for the Ireland perspective) will review the current state of play on Brexit and what comes next for the regulation of cross-border financial services. The webinar will take place between 2-3pm on 23 July 2020. Read more

The PRA and FCA have set out their expectations for UK-regulated firms under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime ("SMCR") in the light of the COVID-19 outbreak. A joint statement from the PRA and FCA applies to dual-regulated firms, while the FCA has published a separate statement for solo-regulated firms. Read more

We are pleased to invite you to our weekly webinar series discussing the business challenges presented by the COVID-19 outbreak. The third webinar, entitled, ‘People: the challenges being faced’, will be broadcast on 7 April 2020 and will focus on a number of the key issues currently being faced by UK employers, as well as the government support that may be available. The webinar will be chaired by James Palmer, Chair and Senior Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills, who will be joined by expert colleagues who will share their experience and views on these issues.   Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating significant health, social and economic challenges world-wide, forcing governments and businesses to assess the impact on their people, operations and governance. Our latest "at a glance guide" considers some of the announcements made to date by EIOPA, the PRA and the FCA.  These cover a range of issues including actions that insurers should be taking to protect customers and employees, encouragement to firms to preserve capital and the extension of reporting deadlines. Our COVID-19 crisis hub aims to help our clients navigate their way through the many legal and regulatory issues that COVID-19 creates for their businesses Read more

The UK Government has published guidance requesting that schools and other educational institutions provide limited care for children whose parents have roles that are critical to the COVID-19 response. This includes parents working in certain financial services roles, including in the insurance sector, that are essential to the functioning of the economy (referred to as … Read more

This post was first published on our Digital TMT and Sourcing Notes blog. On 4 March 2020, the FCA published a short set of findings from its review of outsourcing in the UK life insurance sector. Despite the review’s narrow scope, the FCA’s findings are readily applicable to other outsourcing contexts, so regulated firms outside the life … Read more

The PRA has published guidance for UK insurers on their ability to service EEA liabilities once the Brexit transition period (called the “implementation period” in UK legislation) comes to an end on 31 December 2020. In our view, the guidance is consistent with the view that “expat business” (where policies were written in the UK … Read more