Tom Morante co-chairs the firm's Insurance Industry Team. His practice focuses on the intersection of insurance, securities, banking, tax and corporate laws in an evolving and increasingly complex global regulatory framework that demands flexible solutions to regulatory challenges and rapid adoption of best practices.
Fluent in Spanish, he has also handled corporate finance and cross-border transactions in numerous foreign countries with emphasis on Latin America and offshore jurisdictions. He has also advised foreign governments in connection with insurance and financial services regulatory reform.
Regulatory Compliance. Mr. Morante counsels life insurers, property & casualty and other non-life insurers, health insurers, reinsurers, captive insurers, risk-retention groups, hedge funds, investment banks and financial intermediaries, including insurance agents in connection with their domestic and international regulatory, compliance and transactional needs.
Mr. Morante advises financial services companies both in the U.S. and abroad, on the following:
- insurance company formation and authorization
- producer and agency licensing, including third party administrators
- product development and registration, including variable life and annuity products
- distribution of insurance and investment products, including sales and marketing practices
- insolvency and restructuring, including state receivership
- dispute resolution and regulatory investigations
- formation of captive insurance companies (domestic and foreign)
- reinsurance treaties and fronting arrangements
Transactional Matters. Mr. Morante assists clients with respect to M&A transactions involving insurance companies, reinsurance and fronting transactions, and also in connection with purchase and sale of policy portfolios, insurance agencies and insurance wholesalers.
He has handled insurance company financings, sale of insurance through banks, insurance linked securities transactions, and the creation of insurance dedicated funds for use in funding the separate accounts of variable life and annuities policies. He also counsels investors, underwriters, funders, custodians and others on life settlement transactions, including securitizations, use as collateral in debt financing, litigation matters and private wealth management.
International. Mr. Morante advises foreign insurers doing business in the U.S. on regulatory and transactional matters, including authorization and product approval. He also assists insurance companies and insurance distributors in connection with establishing operations in foreign countries and he advises in connection with offshore life insurance (with particular emphasis on Bermuda, Cayman Islands, the B.V.I. and the Isle of Man), relative to establishing insurance operations and analyzing the foreign country laws implicated in sale of offshore products to persons resident in those countries.
He counsels clients on the financial services and insurance provisions of free trade agreements, including NAFTA and DR-CAFTA and various U.S. bilateral investment treaties. He serves on the Roster of U.S. Panelists selected by the NAFTA Secretariat, with respect to NAFTA Chapter 19 Dispute Settlement Panels. Mr. Morante also counsels insurance clients on the USA Patriot Act and foreign country laws regulating money laundering, and has advised in connection with development of global AML policies and procedures. He also advises insurance clients in connection with the U.S. Export Administration Regulations and OFAC Foreign Assets Control Regulations.
Financial Regulatory Reform. Mr. Morante counsels clients on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd Frank), including with respect to the Federal Insurance Office, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, private fund adviser registration in connection with hedge funds and private equity funds, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, resolution authority for companies that pose systemic risk, and the development of the regulations that will implement provisions of Dodd-Frank.
Health Law. In connection with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mr. Morante is advising insurance clients on the creation of and participation in the new Affordable (health benefit) Insurance Exchanges and in connection with the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) Program. He also advises global health insurance companies on product design and compliant distribution methodologies.
Activities. Mr. Morante is a member of the new Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk and Compliance Partner Advisory Board, which focuses on evolving legislation and its impact on the work of law firms and corporate legal teams, including in the context of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and new regulations such as Dodd-Frank. He is also a member of the Dean's Advisory Council of the American University Washington College of Law, and serves on the Board of Advisors of Inter-American Dialogue's "Latin American Advisor - Financial Services" biweekly publication. He is the South Florida regional coordinator for The Export Legal Assistance Network (ELAN), a cooperative program of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration.