Portfolio Transfers

Portfolio transfers are becoming an increasingly popular mechanism for insurers and reinsurers to release capital from their discontinued businesses.  They are a legal mechanism by which insurance and reinsurance business is transferred from one risk-carrier to another.  Benefits include:

• Economic and legal finality
• Release of ‘trapped’ capital
• Avoidance of additional capital requirements and increased regulatory compliance costs as world-wide regulation and capital requirements for insurers and reinsurers increase
• Savings of future run-off costs for discontinued business
• Release of senior management time to concentrate on core businesses
• Removal of risk of adverse insurance and credit default development.

Portfolio transfers are particularly popular in the European Economic Area (EEA), where European Directives have required member states to implement a process for the transfer of insurance and reinsurance business and the move towards a Europe wide regulatory regime gathers pace.  

We have completed numerous sizeable portfolio transfers globally, without disruption to counterparty business.  Jurisdictions in which we have successfully completed transfers include the UK, Denmark, Norway, Japan and Australia.  We are currently engaged in further transfers of business located in the U.K., Germany and Belgium, and are familiar with the local transfer procedures in France, Holland, Ireland, Italy and Sweden.