Insurance
Our insurance practice provides comprehensive support for all legal, regulatory, and tax aspects relating to (re)insurers, captives, brokers, and InsurTech companies. Our service offering particularly includes regulatory and commercial advice, structuring and conducting M&A, capital market and risk transfer transactions, tax and data privacy advice, arbitration and litigation before all courts and authorities as well as internal investigations. To cope with the complex regulatory environment, we take an interdisciplinary approach and bring in the subject matter specialists with specific sector knowledge from our different practice groups. We have a strong understanding of technology, regulations and intellectual property, which also enables us to provide high-quality advice to InsurTech companies and to anticipate our client’s changing situations.
As of 2023, we have teamed up with Swiss InsurTech Hub – a nonprofit association with the mission to build and grow the leading InsurTech Hub in Switzerland – to promote knowledge, innovation and professional networking in the insurance sector. A substantial part of our contribution is the new chapter “Regulation”, headed by Kevin Hubacher, to discuss all matters concerning regulation in the insurance industry.
The main activities include:
- Regulatory and Compliance Support, in particular authorization of insurance companies, registration of insurance brokers with FINMA, (cross-border) insurance services and product distribution, AML for life insurance business, FMIA-derivatives trading duties, solvability (SST and Solvency II), outsourcing structures, setting up of compliance procedures and internal regulations, forms and manuals, pre-screenings for audits, internal reports, surveys and/or investigations;
- Debt & Equity Capital Markets, in particular standalone issuances, programs, equity-linked, hybrid and subordinated debt as well as derivatives, structured finance and risk transfer transactions (including securitization and reinsurance structures);
- Tax planning in the context of risk pooling/intra-group retrocession, financing, restructuring, portfolio transfers, tax incentives (R&D super-deduction, patent box, notional interest deduction);
- Tax compliance and controversy support regarding direct and indirect taxes as well as international tax reporting (FATCA, OECD CRS);
- Corporate and Contracts support including full contracts management, in particular agreements in compliance with Swiss Insurance Policies Act, ISDA Master Agreements and other derivatives framework agreements;
- Data Privacy, in particular support in data privacy terms/processes and inventories according to Swiss Data Privacy Act and the European GDPR, website checks and cookie policies, data processing agreements;
- Litigation/arbitration in the context of claims settlement;
- Legal Tech and RegTech features, such as automated documents solutions or support in AML-setups and finding specialized AML-providers, structuring DLT- and blockchain-based solutions
Publications
Basler Kommentar, Versicherungsvertragsgesetz
Rhea Specogna, in: Grolimund/Loacker/Schnyder (Hrsg.), Art 100 Abs. 1, Art. 103 Abs. 2, Art. 103a, Art. 104, 2. Aufl., Basel 2023- DE
The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2024 – Switzerland: Insurance & Reinsurance
The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2024, country-specific Q&A, May 2024- EN
Droit de l’intermédiation en assurance – Intermédiation en matière d’assurance par des exploitants de commerce
Articles spécialisés, TREX - Der Treuhandexperte, Édition 02/23, p. 98-100- FR
Versicherungsvermittlungsrecht – Vermittlung von Versicherungen durch Gewerbetreibende
Fachbeiträge, TREX - Der Treuhandexperte, Ausgabe 02/23, S. 98-100- DE
Firm News
Event Spotlight: IP-Backed Lending: Unlocking Growth
MLL Legal advised Vorwerk Ventures and HCS Capital in CarbonPool Holding AG CHF 10.5m seed financing round
MLL Legal | Pelt8 | Swiss InsurTech Award 2023 | Impact on Sustainability
MLL Legal successfully defended Allianz against goodwill indemnity claims
MLL Legal vertritt Allianz erfolgreich gegen Ansprüche auf Kundschaftsentschädigungen
News Portal
Agreement between Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) on Mutual Recognition in Financial Services
On 21 December 2023, Switzerland signed a first-of-its-kind financial services agreement with the UK (Agreement) after two years of talks which began after the UK left the EU. The Agreement uses outcomes-based mutual recognition of each jurisdiction’s financial services regulatory and supervisory regimes to facilitate cross-border trade in financial services to wholesale and sophisticated clients on the basis of deference, domestic law or other arrangements:
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FINMA Guidance 06/2023 on the Prudent Person Principle
The revised insurance supervision act and the revised supervision ordinance will enter into force on 1 January 2024. The revision brings along the introduction of the prudent person principle. Furthermore, insurers which are exclusively engaged in the insurance of professional policyholders may upon request be exempted by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA) from certain supervisory duties. On 31 October 2023, FINMA published its Guidance 06/2023 on these two topics. This newsletter focuses on the prudent person principle.
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FINMA Calls on Insurance Intermediaries to Act
On 2 June 2023, the Federal Council adopted the amendments to the Insurance Supervision Ordinance and put the revised Insurance Supervision Act and the revised Insurance Supervision Ordinance into force as of 1 January 2024. On 21 August 2023, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA published an action plan for insurance intermediaries: it calls on insurance intermediaries to inform themselves and ensure that they meet the new (increased) requirements.
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Revised Insurance Supervisory Law: The Swiss Federal Council adopts the Insurance Supervisory Ordinance and Enacts the Revised Insurance Supervisory Law
On 2 June 2023, the Swiss Federal Council adopted the amendments to the Insurance Supervisory Ordinance and enacted the revised Insurance Supervisory Act and the revised Insurance Supervisory Ordinance as of 1 January 2024.
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