Vol. 416 No. 8
93 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will give details of the number, and identity if known, of intermediaries acting on behalf of insurance/investment companies who have gone into liquidation or receivership or have ceased to trade in the past ten years; if financial losses were borne by investors in any of these cases; if he will outline the action taken or pending in these cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Insurance intermediaries are regulated in respect of their insurance activities under Part IV of the Insurance Act, 1989, which came into effect on 1 October 1990. This is largely a self-regulatory system and I do not have details of all the companies which have ceased to trade since the commencement of the statutory provisions in question. Cases involving the cessation of operations of insurance intermediaries which occurred before that date fell within the context of common law.
I have no statutory responsibility in respect of investment intermediaries. There is no statutory regulation in existence for such intermediaries at present but the Minister for Finance is at present considering possible regulatory arrangements; any further questions regarding this aspect should be addressed to that Minister.
