Thomas F. Morante
Pierson FerdinandBusiness Regulation & Regulated Industries
ABOUT
For more than 30 years, Tom Morante’s clients have relied on him to help them navigate an increasingly complex global regulatory and technology-driven environment. He leads the firm’s International Insurance Regulatory practice, and counsels clients on U.S. and foreign insurance regulatory, compliance, and transactional matters, as well as with respect to cross-border business operations, with a focus on Latin America.
Tom advises insurance and reinsurance companies, captive insurers, insurance agents, distributors, wholesalers, insurtechs, fronting insurers, financial institutions, investment funds, and insureds, with a focus on matters involving life and annuities, health, captive, business interruption, extended warranty, representations and warranties, property and casualty, cyber, parametric, trade credit, and political risk insurance.
Clients engaging in business in the United States and abroad also seek Tom’s counsel with respect to mergers and acquisitions, joint venture transactions, capital formation, import/export, and licensing and distribution agreements. Collaborating with foreign law firms around the world, Tom has also handled regulatory compliance and enforcement matters abroad. He is fluent in Spanish and completed undergraduate study in Colombia and Spain, and legal studies in Mexico.
Insurance clients regularly ask Tom to assist in the development of offshore life insurance, annuities, and investment products in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Barbados, and other offshore jurisdictions. He also counsels clients on the foreign laws implicated in the distribution and cross-border sale of insurance products, with an emphasis on Latin America and Asia. He advises U.S. insurers with respect to establishing operations in various foreign countries and foreign insurers on engaging in insurance business in the United States.
Tom’s representative insurance matters include domestic and foreign insurance company formation and authorization, mergers and acquisitions, sale of policy portfolios, captive insurance company formation and compliance, and policy contract drafting and coverage analysis. In addition, he handles insurance agent, agency, managing general agent, and third-party administrator licensing under state insurance laws; advising on sales practices such as digital marketing; insurtech and artificial intelligence; fronting and reinsurance transactions, structuring domestic and offshore private placement life insurance (PPLI) and private placement variable annuities (PPVA); and cybersecurity and data privacy compliance.
Tom also advises companies with respect to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations, the International Economic Emergencies Act (IEEPA) and related sanctions programs, and the USA Patriot Act and foreign country anti-money laundering laws. In addition, he provides comprehensive global guidance to companies and individuals involved in international business transactions and in connection therewith, advises clients on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and foreign anti-corruption legislation. Tom assists clients facing potential violations of sanctions laws through guidance in voluntary self-disclosures to OFAC. He also provides strategic counsel on implementing and crafting sanctions-related compliance policies.
He advises clients on international trade issues arising under the Trade Act of 1974 and the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, the financial services chapter of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) which replaced NAFTA, bilateral investment treaties (BITs), and U.S. free trade agreements with numerous Latin American countries. In addition, he monitors China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the context of trade, lending, and investment in Latin America, with an emphasis on financial services.
Tom is the former chair of both the ABA Business Law Section’s International Coordinating Committee and International Business Law Committee, and currently co-chairs the International Collaboration Task Force (a joint initiative of the ABA Business Law Section and International Law Section). Tom also serves on the board of advisers of Inter-American Dialogue’s Financial Services Advisor publication.
