Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016
216. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if the Central Bank is currently in contact with regulators from any other countries regarding concerns the bank has concerning insurance companies operating here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24614/16]
View answerInsurance companies authorised in a particular Member State are allowed conduct business in other Member States without being authorised there under the EU single market rules. This is done through 'passporting' which is the establishment of a branch or operation by way of freedom of services. Passporting is not applied for but notified. In such circumstances, EU insurance legislation puts the onus on domestic supervisors to supervise for prudential purposes this passporting business conducted in other Member States.
The Central Bank has indicated that supervisory authorities across the European Union cooperate and share relevant information to achieve the objectives of insurance supervision and, in particular, financial stability and adequate protection of policyholders and other stakeholders. The supervision of most insurance companies established in Ireland is conducted within European supervisory colleges where some decision-making is shared with the group supervisor and European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) as per Solvency II.
I am informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that earlier this year it asked the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to review the Irish motor business of Gibraltar based firms and offered its assistance in that regard, drawing their attention to the Central Bank's Bodily Injury Thematic Review and the increasing cost of claims in Ireland. The Central Bank followed that letter with a visit to GFSC on 7 July 2016.
The Central Bank's Bodily Injury Thematic Review was published in November 2015. It reviewed bodily injury claims and reserving data and assessed the extent to which the insurance industry's data reflected the upward trends in frequency and cost of claims up to the end of 2014.
The Central Bank also discussed the Bodily Injury Thematic Review with its peers at a European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority's Practitioners Day on 'Supervisory aspects of Motor Insurance' on 21 June 2016 and bilaterally with foreign supervisors of insurance firms having significant motor insurance business in Ireland.
