Transfer of the insurance and reinsurance business of Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd., Australia Branch to Swiss Re Asia Pte. Ltd., Australia Branch

Notice of intention to apply to the Federal Court of Australia for confirmation of a scheme under Division 3A of Part III of the Insurance Act 1973 (Cth) for the transfer of the insurance business of the Australian Branch of Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd ABN 43 007 479 941 (SRZ) to the Australian Branch of Swiss Re Asia Pte. Ltd. ARBN 631 490 447 (SRAL).

Notice is given that the Australian branch of SRZ (SRAU) proposes to make an application to the Federal Court of Australia (Court) at Sydney for orders confirming a scheme under Division 3A of Part III of the Insurance Act 1973 (Cth) (Act) to transfer the insurance business of SRAU to the Australian Branch of SRAL (SRALAU).

SRZ is a company incorporated in Switzerland and SRAL is a company registered in Singapore. Both SRAU and SRALAU are registered under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and each is authorised by APRA under the Act to carry on insurance business in Australia.

Should the Scheme be confirmed by the Court, SRAU will be substituted for SRALAU under policies issued or underwritten by SRAU.

An affected policyholder for the purposes of the Scheme is a person to whom a treaty or facultative reinsurance policy or an insurance policy was issued in the course of SRAU carrying out insurance business in Australia where the policy is as yet unexpired or the policyholder is eligible to make a claim against, or has brought a claim against SRAU under the policy (Affected Policyholder).

An Affected Policy Holder has the right to:

  • review the Scheme documents including the actuarial report on which the Scheme is based and the peer review report of the actuarial report; and
  • attend the Court hearing and request to be heard on the application for confirmation of the Scheme.

An application by SRAU for confirmation of the Scheme will be made to the Court in Sydney on 24 October 2019. If you wish to appear at the hearing, it would assist if you could first contact SRAU’s solicitor, Mr Dean Carrigan of Clyde & Co, by telephone on (02) 9210 4400 or by email on dean.carrigan@clydeco.com at least three days before the hearing date.

Affected Policyholders are not required to take any action if they have no objection to the Scheme.

Affected Policyholders may obtain or inspect a copy of this notice, the Scheme, a summary of the Scheme and the actuarial report upon which the Scheme is based (Scheme Documents) at the places set out below during the hours of 9:00am to 5:00 pm each day (other than weekends and public holidays) from Wednesday 18 September 2019 until Tuesday 15 October 2019 (inclusive). The Scheme Documents will also be published on the Swiss Re website www.swissre.com/australia_newzealand.

NEW SOUTH WALES Clyde & CoLevel 15, 333 George StreetSydney NSW 2000 AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Chamberlains Law Firm224 Bunda StreetCivic Canberra ACT 2601 SOUTH AUSTRALIA Finlaysons 81 Flinders Street Adelaide SA 5000
QUEENSLAND Clyde & CoLevel 22, 12 Creek StreetBrisbane QLD 4000 WESTERN AUSTRALIA Clyde & CoLevel 28, 197 St Georges TerracePerth WA 6000 TASMANIA Dobson Mitchell Allport 59 Harrington Street Hobart TAS 7001
VICTORIA Clyde & CoLevel 26, 140 William StreetMelbourne VIC 3000 NORTHERN TERRITORY Finlaysons Level 3/9 Cavenagh Street Darwin NT 0800  

An Affected Policyholder may also obtain a copy of the Scheme Documents free of charge by contacting SRAU’s Senior Legal Counsel, Jeremy Challen, by telephone on +61 2 8295 9500 or by email to jeremy_challen@swissre.com. Mr Challen will be able to assist with any other queries in relation to this Notice. 

In order to assist you in assessing whether you may be an Affected Policyholder, it is suggested you contact your broker, if one was engaged by you, to ascertain whether you are an Affected Policyholder.

We recommend that each Affected Policyholder obtain and review the Scheme Documents, which contain a discussion of the impact of the Scheme on Affected Policyholders.