Rural & General attracts more regulator attention

Insurer Rural & General Insurance Broking has attracted more regulatory attention, this time from theAustralian Securities and Investments Commission(ASIC), over concerns that its website may be misleading and deceptive to consumers.

ASIC has obtained undertakings from Rural & General Insurance Broking and Rural & General International Insurance through the Federal Court in Sydney to remove representations on the website which may have caused consumers to believe that the latter was able to operate as an insurer in Vanuatu without restriction.

While Rural & General International Insurance is incorporated in Vanuatu, theAustralian Prudential and Regulation Authority(APRA) claimed in a warning to consumers earlier this year that it was not authorised to insure any risks within Vanuatu or to solicit insurance business from the public within or beyond Vanuatu, but was thought to be actively selling insurance policies in Australia through Rural & General Insurance Broking.

This was disputed by Rural & General, which has since launched two defamation actions against APRA - the first, aborted in the District Court of NSW because of a change to jurisdiction legislation resulting in a second action being filed last month in the ACT Supreme Court.

Under these new undertakings, Rural & General Insurance Broking has agreed to send a corrective notice to every person or entity who or which purchased an insurance product through its website between November 23 2002 and March 31 2003, and to publish a corrective notice on the website in a form acceptable to ASIC.

ASIC deputy executive director of enforcement Jan Redfern says, “People should be aware there are some risks involved in placing their insurance with unauthorised foreign insurance companies, and urges all consumers to check whether they are protected in Australia if something goes wrong”.

Rural & General was also ordered to pay ASIC’s costs.