IAG Settles the Last Greensill Proceeding, the White Oak Claim of About A$170 Million, After Earlier Settlements of A$4 Billion and A$2.8 Billion, With Terms Confidential

Insurance Australia Group, IAG, has settled the last of the court cases arising from the collapse of Greensill, the supply-chain finance company. Insurance Business Australia reported on October 28, 2026 that IAG told the Australian Securities Exchange that its subsidiary, Insurance Australia Limited (IAL), had agreed to resolve the White Oak claim. The details in this article come from that report. The settlement documents and court files were not reviewed, and the terms of the settlement are confidential.

The final case

The proceeding is White Oak Commercial Finance Europe (Non-Levered) Limited v Insurance Australia Limited, case number NSD 1039 of 2021 in the Federal Court of Australia. The claimant is White Oak. The respondents were IAL, BCC Trade Credit and BCC's former head of trade credit, Greg Brereton. Tokio Marine entities and the broker Marsh were drawn in through related claims and cross-claims. The case was one of eleven proceedings that the court managed together. White Oak claimed about A$170 million plus interest, measured by the aggregate face value of the policies it relied on.

What the dispute was about

The claims concerned trade credit insurance policies that were allegedly issued by BCC Trade Credit on behalf of IAL to Greensill entities. Trade credit insurance pays a seller or lender if a buyer fails to pay an invoice, and Greensill's financing relied on such cover for the receivables it bought. When Greensill collapsed in 2021, those who had financed it sought to claim. According to the report, a June 2026 Federal Court ruling recorded IAL's position that the policies were not valid and that BCC was not authorised to issue them. The report stresses that no court has ruled on whether BCC had authority to bind IAL. After about five years of litigation there is therefore no published reasoning on that question, which means the settlements leave open how far an insurer is bound by policies issued in its name by an agent.

Timeline of the final stretch

On September 24, 2026, lawyers said White Oak's claims were set for trial the following month. On October 6, 2026, the Federal Court ordered White Oak to provide A$5 million in security for costs, after IAL and the BCC and Tokio Marine parties argued that the vehicle was effectively in run-off with minimal assets. Security for costs is money a claimant must lodge to cover the other side's legal costs if the claimant loses. Earlier court rulings included an April order requiring disclosure of settlement documents and a June order to produce WhatsApp messages. The settlement was announced on October 28, within the month in which the report says the trial had been expected to start.

The earlier settlements

The White Oak resolution follows two much larger ones. In May 2026, IAL settled with Greensill Bank AG and its administrator, a claim of about A$4 billion in face value plus interest. In September 2026, it settled with Credit Suisse entities, a claim of about A$2.8 billion in face value plus interest. IAG said the Credit Suisse settlement would not materially affect its financial position or FY27 results, based on anticipated recoveries, including insurance, reinsurance and indemnities. Adding the three face values, a calculation made here, gives about A$6.97 billion of claimed policy value across the three settled matters, although face value is not the amount paid and the settlement sums are not disclosed.

IAG's statement on the financial effect

IAG said the Greensill settlements would not have a material impact on its financial position or on its FY27 financial results. The report notes that the release was authorised by chief executive Nick Hawkins and described the financial effect as consistent with IAG's previous disclosures. The report does not separately quantify the effect of the White Oak settlement, and since the terms are confidential, no payment figure is available.

Marsh and the costs

The report notes that the Financial Times had reported that Marsh covered the largest portion of the Credit Suisse settlement. It says that no party has confirmed this or how costs were split. It also points to Marsh's SEC filing, which shows a charge of US$144 million for the quarter to September 30 and US$569 million for nine months, net of insurance proceeds, tied to the Australian proceedings, and says the liability reflects the Greensill Bank and Credit Suisse settlements and related costs. These are reported figures from a filing the report cites, and this article has not checked the filing. They show that the costs of the litigation were spread beyond IAG, but they do not establish who bore which part of any settlement.

What the outcome means

For the insurance industry, the end of the cases removes a large contingent liability for IAG and closes a high-profile dispute over trade credit cover. It does not answer the legal question at the centre of the case, and so it offers no precedent on when a managing agent's policies bind an insurer. Brokers and insurers that use delegated authority arrangements, in which an agent issues policies on the insurer's behalf, may still read the dispute as a reason to check the scope of authority and the validity of policies they rely on, but the report draws no such rule from a court.

Limits

This article relies on a single trade-press report. Settlement terms are confidential, allegations in the proceedings were not tested by a court, and the Marsh figures come from a report of a filing that was not reviewed. It is general information, not legal advice.