The Proposed Insurance Business Transfer Scheme Relating to the Transfer of Business from the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited to Royal London DAC
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The proposed Insurance Business Transfer Scheme relating to the transfer of business from The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited to Royal London DAC Report by the Chief Actuary of The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited 3 October 2018 1 Contents 1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Purpose ................................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Background ............................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Supporting documents and information ................................................................................ 7 1.4 Credentials and declaration of interest .................................................................................. 8 2 OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSED TRANSFER ......................................................................................... 8 2.1 Background information on RLMIS and Royal London DAC ................................................... 8 2.2 Summary of proposed Transfer .............................................................................................. 8 2.3 Financial impact .................................................................................................................... 11 2.4 Summary of proposed reinsurance agreements .................................................................. 14 3 IMPACT OF THE TRANSFER ON THE TRANSFERRING POLICYHOLDERS ........................................ 19 3.1 Factors considered ................................................................................................................ 19 3.2 Security of benefits ............................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Benefits payable under participating policies ....................................................................... 24 3.4 Application of discretionary management actions ............................................................... 27 3.5 Expenses................................................................................................................................ 28 3.6 Service standards/standards of administration .................................................................... 28 3.7 Investment strategy .............................................................................................................. 29 3.8 Tax ......................................................................................................................................... 29 3.9 Membership rights ................................................................................................................ 31 3.10 Policyholder Communications .............................................................................................. 32 4 IMPACT OF THE TRANSFER ON REMAINING POLICYHOLDERS OF ROYAL LONDON ..................... 33 4.1 Factors considered ................................................................................................................ 33 4.2 Security of benefits ............................................................................................................... 33 4.3 Benefits payable under participating policies ....................................................................... 34 4.4 Expenses................................................................................................................................ 35 4.5 Service standards .................................................................................................................. 35 4.6 Investment strategy .............................................................................................................. 35 4.7 Tax ......................................................................................................................................... 36 4.8 Membership rights ................................................................................................................ 36 4.9 Policyholder Communications .............................................................................................. 36 5 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................... 37 6 COMPLIANCE WITH ACTUARIAL STANDARDS ............................................................................... 38 2 Appendix A BACKGROUND TO AND OUTLINE OF THE TERMS OF THE TRANSFER ........................... 39 Appendix B CERTIFICATION FOR PROPOSED CHANGES TO ROYAL LIVER INSTRUMENT OF TRANSFER ...................................................................................................................... 42 3 1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 Purpose The purpose of this report is to consider the likely impact of a scheme of transfer (the “Scheme”) of part of the long-term business of The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited (“RLMIS”) to Royal London DAC (“Royal London DAC”) under an insurance business transfer under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“Part VII Transfer”) for: (a) the holders of the RLMIS policies proposed to be transferred, and (b) the non-transferring policyholders of RLMIS at the time of transfer, in each case with particular reference to their benefit expectations, the future security of those benefits, their contractual rights, policyholder protection, service levels, with-profits governance and the general requirement to treat customers fairly. This transfer is known as the “Royal London Ireland transfer” or the “Transfer”. The business proposed to be transferred from RLMIS to Royal London DAC comprises: (i) Protection business written in Ireland by RLMIS through its local branch since 1 July 2011 (“RL Ireland Protection Business“). (ii) Business originally written in Ireland by: a. Royal Liver Assurance Limited, Caledonian Life and Irish Life Assurance plc, subsequently transferred to RLMIS on 1 July 2011 by way of a scheme of transfer under Section 86 of the Friendly Societies Act 1992; and b. GRE Life Ireland Limited (“GRELI”), a subsidiary of Royal Liver Assurance Limited which became a subsidiary of RLMIS on the transfer described in a. above, subsequently transferred to RLMIS on 1 July 2012 by way of a scheme of transfer under the Assurance Act 1909 and European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994, (together the “Ireland Liver Business”). (iii) Business written in Germany by RLMIS (“German Bond Business”). The report has been prepared for the Directors of RLMIS in order to assist them in coming to a decision concerning whether to proceed with the Transfer. It is intended that the High Court will be asked to approve the Transfer at a hearing on 31 January 2019. The Transfer will be made on 7 February 2019 (the “Effective Date”) although it will be treated for accounting purposes as though it took effect from the retrospective date of 1 January 2019. The PRA and FCA, as regulators, are entitled to be heard in proceedings and they have been informed of the proposed terms. The report is based on the draft core documents sent to the PRA and FCA on 28 September 2018. 4 1.2 Background RLMIS and Royal London DAC are both long-term insurance companies, the former authorised in the UK and the latter to be authorised in Ireland by the end of 2018. RLMIS is a mutual company and owns 100% of Royal London DAC. Royal London DAC has been established to enable the life insurance business previously written by RLMIS through a branch in Ireland to be written through an authorised life insurer in Ireland, meaning the Royal London Group can continue to sell new life insurance business in Ireland when the UK has left the European Union (“EU”) assuming that the passporting rights have been lost. The EU passporting arrangements also allow RLMIS to service business previously written in the EU (excluding the UK). In the event of the UK leaving the EU without any arrangements which replace passporting, or otherwise allow passporting to continue, there is a risk that it will become illegal for RLMIS to service its existing business written in Ireland and Germany after the UK has left the EU. The Transfer provides certainty that the Royal London Group can continue to service such business should passporting rights not be available for a UK insurer once the UK has left the EU. It is possible that the outcome of the EU exit negotiations may result in an agreement with the EU which means that RLMIS would have been able to continue to service policies sold under EU passporting rights either for a transitional period, or until the end of the policy term. However, it is considered that there is not sufficient time to wait for the results of such negotiations, and the certainty provided by the Transfer is necessary to ensure that the Transferring Business can continue to be serviced once the UK has left the EU. It would have been possible to include a clause in the Scheme which would have allowed certain policies that are proposed to transfer, for example the Ireland Liver Business and the German Bond Business, not to be transferred in the event that there was an agreement which enabled RLMIS to able to continue to service policies sold under EU passporting rights. However, such a clause would have led to a complex message and overall uncertainty for those