Court sanctions Part VII transfer after considering recent
Brexit developments
The applicant sought the sanction of the court for its Part VII
insurance business transfer scheme. The scheme provides for the
transfer, from the UK company to a newly formed Luxembourg
subsidiary, of all of the insurance business written by the UK
company (with a reinsurance back to the UK of the unitised
with-profits business). Some of the transferring policyholders
raised objections, including the following:
(1) They questioned the need for the transfer. This was an
objection raised in the recent decision in Aviva Life and
Pensions UK Ltd & Ors, Re but there have been further
developments since then, including the issue of draft legislation
in Germany and Italy (where some of the policyholders reside) which
would allow UK (re)insurers a transitional period until December
2020 to continue to service existing business in the event of a
no-deal Brexit. However, Snowden J said that these