Engagement on the draft amendments to Insurance Business (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2002 (the “Insurance Business Law”)
6th November 2020Introduction
On the 30th of October 2015 the States of Deliberation approved the Policy Letter submitted by the Policy Council on the Revision of the Financial Supervisory and Regulatory Laws. Representatives of the States of Alderney and the Chief Pleas of Sark has previously indicated their support for the proposals which followed a public consultation process, together with the Law Officers of the Crown (the “Law Officers”), the Commerce and Employment Department (the “C&E Department”) and the Policy Council.
Following approval of the Policy Letter by the Bailiwick legislative bodies, the Law Officers and the Commission, with the assistance of members of industry, have now produced an Ordinance amending the Insurance Business Law (the “Ordinance”). The Ordinance is in near final form, and the Law Officers have confirmed that the final version of the Ordinance will include gender neutral language.
In August and September 2020, the States of Guernsey, the States of Alderney and the Chief Pleas of Sark approved the Banking Supervision (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020, the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020, the Regulation of Fiduciaries, Administration Businesses and Company Directors, etc (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020 and the Financial Services Business (Enforcement Powers) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020. These Laws form part of the suite of amended legislation contemplated in the Policy Letter and are complementary to the amendments in Insurance Business Law.
The Commission is now seeking feedback and assistance from the financial services industry specifically on whether the proposed amendments to the Insurance Business Law have any unintended consequences or fatal flaws.
Feedback is sought no later than 5pm on Friday, 18 December 2020.
What the engagement is not about
The Commission has engaged with the financial services industry through the issuing of a discussion paper and later through the consultation process (including the consultation paper in 2015, drop in sessions and informal stakeholder engagement). As the States have already approved the Policy Letter. Accordingly the policy in relation to the Ordinance has already been set. Thus, the Commission is not seeking extensive responses in relation to matters of policy or direction in relation to the amendments to the Insurance Business Law.
The Format of this engagement
The engagement paper, which is attached, sets out topics upon which the financial services industry’s assistance is requested and in particular questions regarding unintended consequences and whether there are any significant issues in relation to certain provisions or areas.
The questions are posed after the brief introduction to the topic. Please refer to attached copy of the Insurance Business Law which is marked up with the amendments from the Ordinance for the specific provisions.
How to respond
The engagement paper is available here and a copy of the amended Insurance Business Law (in mark-up) is available here. Responses are invited from the financial services industry. Questions are in bold text after the brief introduction to the various topics.
The discussion period runs from Friday, 6 November 2020 to 5pm on Friday, 18 December 2020. Participants are encouraged to feed back any comments as soon as possible.
Please send your feedback to us at [email protected]