Welcome to the Financial Services Bulletin (FSB) – September Edition, 2018

This edition delivers recent industry news, important case law developments, a selection of FOS and SCT determinations and TurksLegal Q&A.

In 'What's Happening Here and Now', we have a number of achievements and news items to share with you.

We hope you enjoy this edition of the FSB!

What's Happening Here and Now

TurksLegal celebrates new appointments
TurksLegal is pleased to announce the appointment of a new partner and new senior associate.

2018 ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship in the Home Strait
The next exciting phase of the ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship began on Monday as entries closed over the weekend.

Come and be part of our session
TurksLegal Partners Peter Murray and Sofia Papachristos will be presenting a new perspective on the issues currently driving the life insurance industry in a concurrent session at the ALUCA bi-annual conference on Community Expectations and Ex-gratia Payments.

TurksLegal Online Life Guide
If you work for an organisation that is a client for TurksLegal and haven't already registered for this valuable resource, click here to register.

Industry News

Senate Committee recommends no changes to group insurance budget proposals
The Senate Economics Legislation Committee handed down its report on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Protecting Your Superannuation Package) Bill 2018 on 14 August 2018.

Unfair Contracts Protections and Life Insurance
Treasury has recently concluded a consultation process with stakeholders in the general and life insurance industries about extending statutory remedies for unfair contract terms to insurance policies.

Cases and Tribunal Decisions

TPD: Reinsurer in the Spotlight
MX v FSS Trustee Corporation as Trustee of the First State Superannuation Scheme & Anor [2018] NSWSC 923
The NSWSC has recently delivered a TPD decision in MX v FSS & MetLife which may have an impact on the way you engage with your reinsurance stakeholders in the management of ‘opinion’ based claims.

Indemnity Costs and section 52(7)(d) of the SIS Act
Carroll v United Super Pty Ltd (No. 2) [2018] NSWSC 1101
The matter of Carroll v United Super returned before Slattery J in relation to Mr Carroll’s application the insurer and trustee pay indemnity costs of the proceedings.

Recent FOS & SCT Decisions

• Section 54 of the Act prevents a FSP from relying on a technical breach of the policy 
• Working at reduced capacity and limited medical involvement leads to a decline in TPD Claims.

TurksLegal Q&A

Involvement in criminal acts – moving the goal posts of public policy
In our first “Life Matters” seminar series earlier this year we received a lot of questions from clients about the sad case of Mr and Mrs Humby and Mr Humby’s death in a house fire he caused as part of a conspiracy he and his wife had devised to fraudulently claim on their household insurance.

This publication is copyright and no part may be reproduced in any form without the permission of TurksLegal. This bulletin is current at its date of publication. While every care has been taken in its preparation, it does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon for this purpose. Specific legal advice should be sought on particular matters. TurksLegal does not accept responsibility for any errors in or omissions from this publication. For any enquiries, please contact one of the Partners at TurksLegal.