SFC slaps $2.4m fine on FWD Life

The insurer failed to meet the required number of personnel with sufficient investment experience.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has slapped a $2.4m fine on FWD Life Insurance Company (Bermuda) Limited over the insurer’s failure to comply with requirements for key personnel, according to a statement. 

There must be at least two key personnel who satisfy the minimum five-year investment experience requirement to manage retirement funds or public codes, according to the SFC Code on MPF Products and Fund Manager Code of Conduct. However, FWD Life only had one key personnel in place who met this requirement from December 2012 to November 2016.

“FWD Life only discovered it had insufficient key personnel when the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority made enquiries in January 2017,” the regulator said in a statement.

FWD Life also failed to enforce policies and procedures to monitor key personnel and to communicate to relevant staff members of their designation as key personnel.