Full Profile
Ernie’s practice covers a broad range of corporate and regulatory matters with a focus on the financial services industry.
Ernie regularly assists clients on structuring, negotiating and documenting complex corporate and commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliance structures, complex insurance and reinsurance contracts, profit share arrangements, transactions involving insurtech and parametric/indexed products, new insurance and reinsurance products and portfolio transfers.
In addition, he advises clients on all aspects of financial service regulation in South Africa, including licensing of insurers, reinsurers, branches of foreign reinsurers, cell captive insurers and microinsurers, intermediary licensing and regulation and compliance with data protection laws.
Ernie's experience also includes various types of commercial transactions, such as commercial contracts (supply, distribution, agency, licensing, services, binder, intermediary and outsourcing agreements) and technology-related agreements.
Ernie completed his LLB and BA at the University of Stellenbosch and was admitted as an Attorney in 2001. He has over a decade of experience working for a number of leading South African firms.
Ernie has been named as a leading Insurance & Re-Insurance Lawyer by The International Who's Who and Expert Guides and has been named a ranked lawyer for Insurance by Chambers Global since 2021.
Experience
Ernie's experience includes representation of the following clients:
- M&A and other transactions
- A major insurance group in bid process to acquire a short-term insurance business (Deal value R1.9 Billion)
- Sellers of their interest in a specialist security system business to a listed trading and distribution group
- A speciality retailer operating in the automotive industry on the conclusion of a joint venture with a listed financial services group
- A major healthcare group on the conclusion of a joint venture with a listed financial services group
- Numerous transfers and substitutions of long-term and short-term insurance businesses and the first transfer of short-term insurance business from a short-term insurer to a long-term insurer
- Regulatory matters
- Development of first parametric insurance product for a major foreign reinsurance group for the local agricultural sector
- Various foreign insurers and reinsurers on all aspects of establishing a presence (as a licence insurer or as a branch of a foreign reinsurer) in South Africa, including drafting the first bespoke application form for approval to operate as a branch
- Local insurers on a broad range of regulatory issues pertaining to their business, including the Financial Sector Regulation Act, the Insurance Act, the Long-term Insurance Act, the Short-term Insurance Act, the Protection of Funds Act, the Medical Schemes Act, the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Service Act, the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act and other financial services legislation
- Advising on and performing readiness assessments for compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act
