ASIC has been given the power to approve in writing the form that life insurance memorandums of transfer should take.

Accordingly, ASIC has approved the current version of ‘Form 2 – Memorandum of transfer for assigning rights under a life policy’ (the Form) in Schedule 4 of the Life Insurance Regulations 1995 (LI Regulations) as the prescribed form that memorandums of transfer should take for the purposes of incoming subsection 200(2B) of the Life Insurance Act 1995 (LI Act).

The Form is approved for continued use from 1 March 2024.

Background

Section 200 of the LI Act provides for assignment of life insurance policies, for example, from one individual to another.

Certain provisions in the LI Regulations have recently been moved into the LI Act. As part of these changes, the Form is being removed from the LI Regulations. Further, when the amendments made by item 45 of Schedule 4 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Law Improvement Package No. 1) Act 2023 (Treasury Laws Amendment Act) take effect, subsection 200(2B) of the LI Act will include a power for ASIC to approve in writing the form that memorandums of transfer should take.

ASIC is only required to prescribe the form that memorandums of transfer should take. Life insurers are not required to lodge memorandums of transfer with ASIC.