The liquidation of New Zealand insurer CBL and its Ireland-based European subsidiary, CBL Europe in February 2018, appears to have made ripples if not waves with the further voluntary liquidation of its subsidiary, Luxembourg-based broker/tied agent Securities & Financial Solutions Europe (SFS Europe) in July 2018, just 5 months later. SFS Europe specializes in the construction sector and was providing its services in France under the EU’s freedom of

European Union (E.U.) Directive 2016/97, which regulates the distribution of insurance products and is intended to strengthen consumer protection, in February 2018 was postponed by a few months. The deadline for implementation, initially set to February 23, 2018, is now pushed back to October 2018. The deadline for transposition into national laws by E.U. Member States is extended to July 1, while the deadline for application is now October

AIA in October 2017 concluded a new bancassurance partnership with Bangkok Bank in Thailand. Bangkok Bank will distribute AIA Thailand’s retail and group protection and long-term savings products on an exclusive basis. The 15-year agreement will become effective in the first half of 2018. Bangkok Bank is the largest bank in Thailand by total assets; it has more than 16 million customer accounts and around 1,200 branches nationwide. Typical