Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 May 2021
222. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for general insurance licences that were made to the Central Bank from 2016 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23231/21]
View answer223. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for general insurance licences awarded by the Central Bank from 2016 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23232/21]
View answer224. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for general insurance licences that were abandoned and or withdrawn by applicants from 2016 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23233/21]
View answer225. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Finance the breakdown by location of the entities applying for general insurance licences to the Central Bank from 2016 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23234/21]
View answer226. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications for general insurance licences that were made to the Central Bank in each of the years 2016 to 2020, inclusive; the number of these applications that were awarded; the number of the applications that were abandoned and withdrawn by the applicants; the breakdown by location of the entities applying for such licences to the Central Bank in each of the years 2016 to 2020 inclusive in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23248/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 222, 223, 224, 225 and 226 together.
At the outset, it is important to note that as Minister for Finance, I am responsible for the development of the legal and policy framework governing financial regulation. As such, my Department does not collect the type of information being sought by the Deputy.
Nonetheless, in response to the Deputy’s question, my officials contacted the Central Bank for the information requested. The Central Bank advised that where a non-life undertaking has been authorised in another European Economic Area country, no further authorisation is needed for the undertaking to write non-life business in the State under the Freedom of Establishment or Freedom to provide Services provisions (passporting).
With this in mind, there were 29 applications for authorisation as non-life insurance undertakings made to the Central Bank in the period from 01 January 2016 to 31 December 2020:
|
Year |
Number of Applications |
|
2016 |
3 |
|
2017 |
6 |
|
2018 |
16 |
|
2019 |
2 |
|
2020 |
2 |
Of the 29 applications, 21 were authorised - eight applications were withdrawn or not subsequently pursued by the applicant. In terms of origin, 19 of the total were in respect of Irish undertakings and 10 were from UK firms seeking authorisation of a third country branch in the State.
The UK withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020 and entered an 11-month implementation period until 31 December 2020. During this time, EU law continued to apply in the UK, but not thereafter. This meant that UK insurers, who previously provided insurance products and services to Irish customers from 31 December 2020 could no longer avail of the European passport. In order to be in a position to continue to provide these products and services, some UK insurers established firms or third country branches in the State and sought authorisation as non-life insurance undertakings. Accordingly, this led to an increase in applications for authorisation especially in 2018, in advance of the original withdrawal date of 31 March 2019.
