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What M&A trends will transform the 2024 insurance landscape?
It is widely accepted that 2023 was one of the worst years in recent memory for M&A activity.
Canada | Publication | May 8, 2020
British Columbia’s Financial Services Authority has clarified that the solicitation of donations of life insurance policies by charities is not generally prohibited by the Insurance Act.
This clarification addresses concerns raised in our November 2019 publication describing communications from the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) indicating that charities could not solicit or accept gifts of life insurance policies in British Columbia from BC residents as it constituted trafficking in insurance policies contrary to the Insurance Act of British Columbia. We are pleased to report that on May 1, the BCFSA published Bulletin INS-20-003 on its website that clarifies its position regarding gifts of life insurance policies to charities.
The BCFSA states that the solicitation of donations of life insurance policies by bona fide charities is not generally prohibited by the Act.
Further, it states that there are three donation methods, whereby the donation of a policy is made by an insured to a bona fide charity, which are not generally prohibited by the Act.
Those methods are:
The BCFSA’s clarification of its position is very welcome news to the sector, and particularly for the third method, which was of great concern. There remain certain points on which to seek further guidance, for example, what does a “bona fide” charity mean, and what if the policy owner and the insured under the policy are not one and the same (for example, with corporately owned policies that insure the life of a key individual)? While it should also be noted that the BCFSA certainly indicates that it retains the power to review practices that may pose a risk to the vulnerable, it is clear that registered charities in British Columbia can now both solicit, and accept gifts of life insurance policies.
Publication
It is widely accepted that 2023 was one of the worst years in recent memory for M&A activity.
Publication
The ongoing conflicts and further geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, coupled with upcoming elections in a number of key countries including the US and the UK, make 2024 challenging to predict what impact this will have on the insurance sector.
Publication
On 6 September 2022, the European Commission (EC) prohibited Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, bringing to an end the administrative stage of a legal saga that has attracted interest beyond competition law specialists.
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