Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

INSURANCE ACT 1973 - SECT 28

                   A general insurer commits an offence if:

                     (a)  it does not hold assets in Australia (excluding goodwill and any other amount excluded by the prudential standards for the purposes of this section) of a value that is equal to or greater than the total amount of its liabilities in Australia other than pre‑authorisation liabilities; and

                     (b)  APRA has not authorised the insurer to hold assets of a lesser value; and

                     (c)  there is no determination in force under subsection 7(1) determining that this subsection does not apply to the insurer.

Maximum penalty:    200 penalty units.

Note 1:       Certain amounts are taken to be assets in Australia, and certain liabilities are taken to be liabilities in Australia, under section 116A.

Note 2:       Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility.

Note 3:       If a body corporate is convicted of an offence against this section, subsection 4B(3) of the Crimes Act 1914 allows a court to impose a fine of up to 5 times the penalty above.