Financial Sector (Transfer and Restructure) Act 1999

This Act provides for 2 kinds of transfers of business of regulated bodies or bodies corporate related to regulated bodies:

voluntary transfers (these are transfers of business under Part 3); and

compulsory transfers (these are transfers of business under Part 4).

This Act also provides for compulsory transfers of shares in regulated bodies.

A transfer of business of a regulated body, or of a body corporate related to a regulated body, is a partial transfer if it relates to some, but not all, of the transferring body’s business (including any business that is not regulated business).

A transfer of business of a regulated body, or of a body corporate related to a regulated body, is a total transfer if it relates to all of the transferring body’s business (including any business that is not regulated business).

For a voluntary transfer of business to take effect, APRA must:

receive an application for the transfer from the regulated bodies concerned (the transferring body and the receiving body); and

approve the application in writing (the voluntary transfer approval); and

issue a certificate (the certificate of transfer) stating that the transfer is to take effect.

The regulated bodies making the application cannot be general insurers (see section 10).

For a compulsory transfer of business to take effect, APRA must:

make a determination (the compulsory transfer of business determination) that there is to be a transfer of business between the bodies concerned (the transferring body and the receiving body); and

issue a certificate (the certificate of transfer) stating that the transfer is to take effect.

For a compulsory transfer of shares to take effect, APRA must:

make a determination (the compulsory transfer of shares determination) that there is to be a transfer of shares in a body (the transferring body) to another body (the receiving body); and

issue a certificate (the certificate of transfer) stating that the transfer is to take effect.

Business of regulated bodies may also be transferred otherwise than under this Act, for example in accordance with section 63 of the Banking Act 1959 or Part 9 of the Life Insurance Act 1995.

Part 4A deals with proposals by ADI, general insurer or life insurance company groups to restructure the group (under Part 5.1 of the Corporations Act 2001).

For an overview of Part 4A, see section 36A.