Scheme Transfer

Part 9 of the Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth) (Life Act) provides that a transfer or amalgamation of a life insurance business with the business of another life company is to be conducted by way of a scheme confirmed by the Federal Court of Australia (Scheme).

Accordingly, since TAL completed its purchase of TLISL in August 2022, TAL Life has been working with the regulators to prepare for the transfer:

• TAL Life and TLISL intend to complete a statutory asset transfer of TLISL’s life insurance business to TAL Life under Part 9 of the Life Act.
• TAL Life and TLISL will seek confirmation from the Federal Court of Australia to confirm the Scheme and proceed with the transfer.
• If successful, the Scheme will transfer the assets and liabilities of TLISL’s life insurance business to TAL Life.

Under the Life Act, TLISL and TAL Life are required to provide policy holders with certain information about the proposed Scheme. Once all documentation (including policy holders communication) have been prepared and made available to the policy holders, TAL Life and TLISL will apply to the Court again to seek confirmation of the Scheme, which if confirmed, will give effect to the transfer.

The application for confirmation of the Scheme is scheduled to be heard by the Federal Court in Sydney, at 9:30am on 24 February 2025.

When the Federal Court confirms a scheme, it also determines the exact time and date of the transfer. TLISL and TAL Life have proposed an effective time and date of 11.59pm (AEST) on 31 March 2025 (Effective Time) in respect of the Scheme.

The Scheme will not proceed unless it is confirmed by the Federal Court.

If the Federal Court does not confirm the Scheme, then TLISL’s life insurance business will not transfer to TAL Life, and the parties will continue to work towards implementing the transfer at a later date.  You will not be affected if the Scheme does not proceed and you will continue to be insured by TLISL under your existing policy and TLISL will remain the product issuer for your policy.

Should the Federal Court of Australia confirm the Scheme, from the Effective Time, the insurer of your policy will be TAL Life instead of TLISL. 

There will be a change to the relevant statutory fund (that is, your policy will become referable to TAL Life’s Statutory Fund No.1 or TAL Life’s Statutory Fund No.2).  Any in-flight claims on transferring policies will be transitioned to TAL Life on the Effective Time.

The appointed actuaries of TLISL and TAL Life and an independent actuary have also concluded that the contractual benefits and rights of TLISL and TAL Life policy holders will not be adversely affected by the proposed Scheme. Your policy terms and conditions will not change as a result of the transfer.

You are not required to take any action before or after the proposed transfer. However, should you wish, you may provide TAL with feedback regarding the proposed transfer. See 'What happens if I want to provide feedback on the Scheme?' below for more information.

A list of impacted products is available in the Scheme Summary document in the Documents section.

If the Scheme is confirmed, all life insurance policies previously issued by TLISL will automatically transfer to TAL Life.

TLISL policy owners will notice a name change on your bank statement to TAL Life. This is a name change only. You do not need to update any payment arrangements or bank account details.

Apart from the above, the Scheme will not result in any changes to the current terms and conditions of your policy, or any TAL Life and TLISL policies.

In addition, there will be no change to the services offered, claims payment or processing arrangements, or the quality of service.

There is nothing that you need to do as a result of the Scheme. If you own a policy issued by TLISL, your policy will automatically transfer to TAL Life if the Scheme is confirmed.

You do not need to update any details or do anything as a result of the transfer. It's always a good idea to keep your contact details updated with us so you may:

• Receive important updates and information such as renewal notices and statements
• Enjoy prompt and personalised customer service
• Get easy access to new communication channels

You can update your contact details with us by contacting us in the same way you currently do to manage your policy or product.

We are committed to making this transfer as smooth as possible, whilst maintaining the level of current service experience.

You can continue to contact us the same way you currently do to manage your products, make a claim or ask questions.

Payment arrangements including bank account numbers will not change and premium payments will continue as normal. There will be a name change on your bank statement to TAL Life. This is a name change only. You do not need to update any payment or bank account details.

The terms and conditions of your policy will not change as a result of the Scheme. The Scheme simply means that TLISL policies will be transferred to TAL Life. TAL Life will be responsible for administering your policy and paying any claims and meeting all other obligations arising under your policy. Any premiums will also be payable to TAL Life. You do not need to do anything as a result of the transfer. Put simply, all rights and liabilities under your TLISL policy will be transferred to TAL Life and in particular, to TAL Life’s Statutory Fund No.1 and Statutory Fund No.2.

If the proposed Scheme is confirmed by the Federal Court, all TLISL policies will automatically transfer to TAL Life.

You cannot opt-out of the proposed Scheme. However, you can request to be heard by the Federal Court when it considers whether to confirm the proposed Scheme (see ‘Can I be heard in Federal Court?’ below).

TLISL uses different brands or associated trademarks, including BT, Westpac, St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne which are registered trademarks of entities in the Westpac Group and are used by TAL Life under licence.

All life insurance products issued under those brands and any associated services will transfer to TAL Life by virtue of the Scheme. You can find the complete list of products transferring to TAL Life in the Scheme Summary, available in Documents.

TLISL products, product names and materials that include BT, Westpac, St.George, BankSA or Bank of Melbourne references will be rebranded to remove those references, where appropriate, and align with TAL Life branding. These changes will be reflected in customer and adviser communications, marketing material and collateral. This rebranding will not result in any changes to the relevant terms and conditions of your policy. 

We are committed to protecting the interests of our policy owners and beneficiaries through a rigorous review and confirmation process, which includes:

• Reports that have been prepared by the TAL Life and TLISL appointed actuaries who concluded that the Scheme will not adversely impact the contractual benefits and rights or the reasonable expectations of TAL Life or TLISL policyholders. The appointed actuaries concluded that the security of TAL Life and TLISL policyholders' benefits will continue unaffected following the Scheme.
• An independent actuary has also confirmed that the Scheme will not adversely affect policy owners of TLISL and TAL Life.
• Copies of the actuaries’ reports are available to download under Documents.
• The Scheme is subject to confirmation by the Federal Court. In confirming the Scheme, the Federal Court will consider the impacts of the Scheme on policy owners, including any adverse impacts.
• Any affected policy owner may attend the hearing at the Court and can request to be heard on the application for confirmation of the Scheme. If you wish to be heard at the hearing, please contact the lawyers for TLISL and TAL Life before the scheduled hearing date of 24 February 2025:
  
  Herbert Smith Freehills
  Attn: Michael Vrisakis
  161 Castlereagh Street
  Sydney NSW 2000
  Tel: 02 9225 5000

Both TAL Life and TLISL are part of the TAL Group. Your personal information is protected by Australian privacy laws and principles. The TAL Group privacy policy applies to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, and can be viewed here.

You can provide feedback during the consultation period by:

• sending us a message through our online form. We will contact you within 5 days;
• sending us an email at transfersupport@tal.com.au; or
• contacting us by phone at 1300 537 699, from Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm (AEST).

You can provide feedback on the Scheme to TAL or TLISL during the consultation period.

The consultation period will begin on the date the Notice of Intention is published and will continue until shortly before the confirmation hearing, scheduled to be held at 9:30am on 24 February 2025. If you do not provide feedback to TAL or TLISL prior to confirmation hearing (for whatever reason), you can still attend the Federal Court hearing and request to be heard on the application for confirmation of the Scheme.

We will capture all feedback on the Scheme and provide a summary to the Federal Court as part of its consideration of the Scheme.

Yes, affected policy owners can attend the Federal Court confirmation hearing and can request to be heard by the Federal Court (This is irrespective of whether or not you have provided prior feedback to TAL regarding the Scheme).

The Federal Court confirmation hearing is scheduled to be held at 9:30am on 24 February 2025.

If you would like to be heard in the Federal Court, please contact TAL Life and TLISL’s lawyers:

Herbert Smith Freehills
Attn: Michael Vrisakis
161 Castlereagh Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: 02 9225 5000

Electronic copies of the Scheme document, a Scheme summary approved by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the independent actuary’s report, the appointed actuary report and the notice of intention are available in Documents.

We can also send you a copy of the Scheme document free of charge, you can contact us to request this.