QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd, in the matter of Division 3A of Part IIIA of the Insurance Act 1973 (Cth) & QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd

In the matter of Division 3A of Part IIIA of the Insurance Act 1973 (Cth), QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd applied to the court for partial dispensation from certain statutory requirements under the Act. The application related to two proposed schemes: the transfer of the Norfolk Island insurance business of QBE Insurance (International) Limited to QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd, and the transfer of the QBE Re and Sydney Re reinsurance business of QBE Insurance (International) Limited to QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd.

The court was tasked with determining whether QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd could be partially exempted from the requirement to distribute an approved summary of the proposed schemes to policyholders and other relevant parties. The court also needed to establish the appropriate conditions and timeframes for the distribution of these summaries and notices about the schemes.

The court granted the application for partial dispensation, subject to specific conditions. For the Norfolk Island scheme, the court required QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd to send an approved summary of the scheme by pre-paid post to affected policyholders and insurance brokers, and to publish a notice in local media and make the summary available online. For the QBE Re scheme, the court required similar actions, but with a broader geographical scope due to the international nature of the reinsurance business. The court also mandated that a notice be published in the Wall Street Journal – Asia Edition and that summaries be made available on the QBE Asia Pacific and QBE Singapore websites.

The court's decision resulted in specific orders being made regarding the dissemination of information about the proposed schemes. These orders included detailed instructions on who should receive the summaries, the timing of the communications, and the platforms through which the information should be made available.