Article list

Insurance alternatives (Part 4: Discretionary mutuals)

In our final article in this series on insurance alternatives, we outline the ultimate peer-to-peer insurance alternative – discretionary mutuals. What is a discretionary mutual? A discretionary mutual is a structure that offers discretionary risk protection to its members. Discretionary protection is similar to insurance because both offer protection against a certain event or risk […]

21 Nov 2019

Insurance alternatives (Part 3: Aggregate deductible funds)

From The Fold Legal

Aggregate deductible funds (ADFs) are becoming a more common type of insurance alternative for buying groups who are looking for new ways to manage their risks. What is an aggregate deductible fund? An ADF is a self-insurance pool that is often used by corporate or community groups, religious institutions, sporting organisations or other groups of […]

05 Nov 2019

Insurance alternatives (Part 2: parametric insurance)

From The Fold Legal

Following on from our last post about insurance alternatives, in this post we outline what parametric insurance is and how it can help you in a hardening insurance market. What is parametric insurance? Parametric insurance pays out a pre-agreed amount when a ‘trigger’ event happens. The amount is paid regardless of whether you have suffered any loss […]

18 Oct 2019

The rise of insurance alternatives (Part 1: An overview)

From The Fold Legal

The insurance market is hardening which means customers can’t always find traditional insurance solutions for their risk. This has increased demand for insurance alternatives with greater flexibility and a wider range of solutions for ‘hard to place risks’. This is the first in a four part series of blogs exploring alternatives such as parametric products, […]

08 Oct 2019

What’s next for the financial advice Safe Harbour provision?

From The Fold Legal

The Safe Harbour provision was supposed to provide financial advisers with more certainty in meeting their legal obligation to act in the best interests of their clients. But in the aftermath of the Hayne Royal Commission, the Safe Harbour provision’s days may be numbered. What is the Safe Harbour? More importantly, what isn’t the Safe […]

26 Sep 2019

Managing the risk of recovery in financial portfolio transfer transactions

From The Fold Legal

We’ve recently noticed that both buyers and sellers have heightened concerns about their risks and exposures when transferring financial advice portfolios. Both are looking for different ways to manage their financial risk of recovery. Sellers want to know what their liabilities and obligations to the buyer are and when they will end. While buyers want certainty […]

18 Sep 2019

Don’t be blown off your feet by the new whistleblower protections

From The Fold Legal

New whistleblower protections expand who is protected and what they can disclose. This regime applies to regulated companies and financial service providers including banks, life companies, general insurers and superannuation funds. More people are now protected whistleblowers The new regime came into force on 1 July 2019 and creates the concept of an ‘eligible whistleblower’. […]

09 Sep 2019

When can financial advisers recommend a switch to an in-house product?

From The Fold Legal

There is a conflict any time a financial adviser recommends an in-house product, but the conflict can be managed. ASIC has determined that conflicts with in-house products do exist In its Report 562, ASIC looked at the big five financial service institutions – CBA, Westpac, ANZ, NAB and AMP – and found that 68% of their […]

23 Aug 2019

Deal trends: Warranties and indemnities in the sale of financial advice portfolios

From The Fold Legal

The sale of financial advice portfolios is on the rise and both buyers and sellers are finding new ways to allocate risk. In this post, we put the current deal trends under the microscope. Following the Royal Commission, and as we move towards the deadlines for new FASEA requirements to be implemented, it’s become a […]

14 Aug 2019

Lenders may need to vary their licence to sell at POS

From The Fold Legal

Financiers who distribute through retailers may need to vary their licence in preparation for the end of the point-of-sale (POS) exemption. The exemption was flagged to go by the Royal Commission. The credit representative model is the most obvious one to replace it. This will place financiers in a similar position to those who distribute insurance […]

26 Jul 2019