Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2017
124. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the insurance firms licensed to sell motor insurance here whose prudential regulation is in another EU country and which are regulated here for conduct of business purposes only. [52890/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Central Bank of Ireland is responsible for the prudential supervision of insurance undertakings authorised by it. It is also responsible for the supervision of conduct of business for all insurers operating in the Irish market whether authorised here or elsewhere in the EU. The EU regulatory framework which allows insurers to provide services from one Member State into another, either through establishing a branch operation in the host country, or writing business from the home country (i.e. where authorised) into the host country on a 'freedom of services' (FOS) basis, is a central element of the Single Market. This passporting facility is of great benefit to many Irish authorised insurers who sell into the markets of other EU member States.
All motor insurance undertakings wishing to do business in Ireland are required to become a member of the national bureau (Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI)) under Section 78 of the Road Traffic Act. This is an important requirement as the MIBI is the body in Ireland tasked with meeting the EU requirement of compensating victims of accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles. MIBI publishes its membership list on its website. This contains the details of all undertakings that are allowed to sell motor insurance in Ireland, whether authorised in the State or elsewhere in the EU. The list is available at:
www.mibi.ie/_fileupload/Member%20list/7%20MIBI%20Members%20List%20-%20September%202017.pdf.
When looking at the membership list, the Deputy will note that the freedom of services undertakings are marked by a reference to “FOS” in the company code field of the table. There were some 26 such undertakings in the latest membership list, from September 2017. These numbers may change as undertakings enter and exit the Irish market from time to time.
In addition, I am informed by the Central Bank that it has a register of insurance undertakings which have notified of their intention or obtained an administrative authorisation to carry on Non-Life Insurance business into Ireland, on a Freedom of Services basis. This is publicly available at:
http://registers.centralbank.ie/.
However, as it includes all undertakings, not just those providing motor insurance, I think the MIBI membership list will be of more assistance to the Deputy for the purpose of his question.
