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By Guan Feng King & Wood’s Finance Group

This article continues to discuss Insurance Benefits for Banks as Mortgagees. The first part of this article was published on Chinalawinsight on January 2012.

III. Assignment of Insurance Benefits

In practice, in order to insure the debt, the lender bank often signs an insurance assignment agreement with the borrower, in which the borrower will assign all insurance benefits(1) under the related property insurance policy(2) to the lender bank. The assignment of rights becomes effective at the moment when the assignment contract is signed, or when the borrower defaults on the loan. Meanwhile, the endorsement slip, in which the insured designates the bank as the "first beneficiary" under the insurance policy, confirms the rights of the bank. To evaluate the feasibility of the insurance assignment contract, the fundamental approach from an insurance law perspective is to assess the nature of the insurance benefits assigned.Continue Reading Insurance Benefits for Banks as Mortgagees (Part II of II)

作者：关峰 金杜律师事务所融资组

本文分两部分刊登， 2012年1月16日金杜法律博客(Chinalawinsight)刊登的了本文的第一部分。文章第二部分将继续对《文件名》进行解读。

三、保险收益（insurance proceeds）的转让

从目前的行业惯例来看，为了保证借款人偿还贷款，银行往往会与借款人签订保险转让合同，约定借款人向银行转让相关财产保险单（1）项下的所有保险收益（2）。权利转让可能发生在转让合同签署之时，也有可能发生在借款人违约之时。与此同时，保险公司出具批单，以将银行列为保险单项下第一收益人（“first beneficial”）的方式，确认银行的权利。如果要判断这种转让保险收益行为的可行性，就必须从基础理论出发，了解保险收益转让的实质。Continue Reading 抵押贷款项下银行获得贷款抵押物保险收益法律问题研究（2）

By Guan Feng King & Wood’s Finance Group

I. Introduction

Banks usually require a borrower to provide a mortgage on their property as security for the bank’s loan. However, under China’s laws, a mortgagee is not entitled to directly receive insurance benefits or indemnification relating to the mortgaged property. If the mortgagee cannot be directly indemnified when the mortgaged property suffers damage or loss, the mortgagee bears the risk of being under-secured on its loan since it does not have a priority right to the insurance proceeds. Although the mortgagee can seek indemnification from the borrower if the borrower has been reimbursed with insurance benefits, ideally the bank should directly receive indemnification for the loss in value of its security.

In practice, the lender bank usually requires the borrower to insure the mortgaged property and designate the bank as the "first beneficiary" in the property insurance contract. In this way, the bank can directly obtain indemnification if the mortgaged property suffers damage or loss due to insured incidents. However, under the Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China ("Insurance Law"), the term "beneficiary" is only defined in life insurance rather than in property insurance. On September 23, 1992, the Department of Real Estate Credit of the Construction Bank of China promulgated the Interim Measures of Employees Mortgage, which defined the term of "first beneficiary". However, the Measures for the Administration of Individual Housing Loans promulgated by the People’s Bank of China on May 9, 1998 phased out the "first beneficiary" concept. Thus, since there is no definition for "beneficiary" in property insurance under China’s current laws, the question of whether such a "beneficiary" is entitled to any direct claim to indemnity remains a myth in the property insurance contract. In order to clarify this issue, the High Court of Shanghai, in its 2009 and 2010 White Paper on Trial Judgments in Financial Cases, instructed that a beneficiary can only be specified in a life insurance contract according to the relevant provisions of the Insurance Law and instructions of the Supreme Court of China.Continue Reading Insurance Benefits for Banks as Mortgagees (Part I of II)

作者：关峰 金杜律师事务所融资组

一、引言

在抵押贷款中，银行为了担保债权利益的实现，通常会要求借款人提供抵押物担保，但是，如果抵押物因客观原因发生毁损、灭失，由于法律没有赋予抵押权人直接扣押抵押物的保险金、补偿金等赔偿金的权利，因此，抵押权人在取得抵押物的赔偿金之前，存在不能就抵押物的赔偿金优先受偿的风险。为此，银行作为抵押权人希望直接受领抵押物的赔偿金，以实现其债权利益。

实践中，银行通常会要求借款人对抵押物投保，并在保险单中指定银行为“第一受益人”，以使银行在保险事故发生后，能直接受领抵押物的保险赔偿金。但是，在我国的《保险法》上，只在人身保险中规定了受益人，在财产保险中未规定。中国建设银行房地产信贷部在1992年9月23日颁布的《职工住房抵押贷款暂行办法》中曾出现过“第一受益人”的概念，但是中国人民银行于1998年5月9日颁发的《个人住房贷款管理办法》中已没有“第一受益人”的概念。因此，在我国目前的法律规定中，暂且没有关于财产保险中受益人的规定。财产保险中的受益人享有的是什么性质的权利，是否因此而取得了保险金请求权，在法律没有明确规定的情况下，都不甚明确。为此，上海市高院在2009年度和2010年度的《金融审判白皮书》中，也明确：根据保险法和最高法院有关规定，受益人仅可在人身保险合同中设置。并且建议保险公司对已签订的合同进行清理、批改，以保障投保人的信赖利益。Continue Reading 抵押贷款项下银行获得贷款抵押物保险收益法律问题研究（1）