FSB Enforcement Committee fines My Lawyer Legal Assistance
30 January 2014
FSB
The Enforcement Committee of the Financial Services Board has imposed a penalty of R200 000 on My Lawyer Legal Assistance (“My Lawyer”) for selling insurance policies that were not underwritten by a registered insurer.
The Registrar of Short-Term Insurance ("the Registrar”) referred the matter against My Lawyer to the Enforcement Committee of the Financial Services Board after it was found that during the period November 2011 to January 2014 the entity marketed and sold short-term insurance policies to members of the public, which were not underwritten by a registered insurer.
This is in contravention of section 7(1) (a) of the Short-term Insurance Act, No 53 of 1998 ("the STI Act”).
As mitigating circumstances, the Registrar considered that My Lawyer has accepted responsibility for the contravention and My Lawyer’s conduct and contravention of the Act was never deliberate or intentional and done bona fide based on research, consultations with industry experts and legal opinion. Also, My Lawyer has put measures in place to rectify the contravention in that it is in the process of securing an underwriter for its insurance business.
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