At the outset, the Deputy should note that the decision to publish data on liability Irish risk insurance business is an operational matter for the Central Bank of Ireland, and I in my role as Minister for Finance have no influence over it.
Notwithstanding this, my officials have had some engagement with the Central Bank on this matter. In response, the Bank has indicated that with the European-wide transition from Solvency I to Solvency II regulatory regime (in place since 1 January 2016), the Central Bank no longer produces the annual Insurance Statistics publication, known as the ‘Blue Book’. The tables in the Blue Book, including the table on liability Irish risk business, were extracted from the Solvency I forms which were completed by the industry and were publicly available (in the Companies Registration Office) and, as these are no longer completed, most of the Blue Book tables cannot be continued in the old format. Furthermore, the underlying data in the Blue Book is now valued on the Solvency II, as opposed to the Solvency I, basis and many of the time series have been broken.
I appreciate that the discontinuation of the publication of this data may be regrettable to particular interested parties, however I understand that those interested parties seeking data at company level can find such data in publicly available reports which are required of all insurance undertakings under the Solvency II regime. Within this new regulatory regime, the Central Bank has informed me that it has taken steps to improve the transparency of data as follows:
- Under the new international Solvency II regulation, the Central Bank is now required to publish harmonised aggregate data that is consistent and comparable with other insurance supervisors in the EU. The first data on the new regime was published in August 2017: www.centralbank.ie/regulation/industry-market-sectors/insurance-reinsurance/solvency-ii/supervisory-disclosure.
- Individual undertakings are required to produce a publicly available Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR). The SFCR includes a detailed narrative report on the insurance undertaking coupled with key quantitative reporting templates that contain premiums, claims, expenses, technical provisions, solvency and other information. Unlike the Blue Book where the data referenced solely business undertaken in Ireland; the data in the SFCRs are consolidated and include all business undertaken by a firm within Ireland and abroad. All SFCRs for 2016 have been made available by the Central Bank at: www.centralbank.ie/regulation/industry-market-sectors/insurance-reinsurance/solvency-ii/solvency-and-financial-condition-report-repository.
- I understand that the Central Bank has now received the second filing of SFCRs for the industry this summer and will update the repository with end-2017 documents between end-October and mid-November and that it is planning to publish a number of summary tables containing data from individual SFCRs to complement the repository and to make the information more easily accessible.
With regard to other points raised by the Deputy, he will be aware that the Central Bank implements its supervisory regime through:
- processing applications for authorisation, monitoring compliance with prudential standards,
- developing systems and procedures to monitor activities and detecting non-compliance by firms,
- issuing guidance notes to enhance supervisory oversight, and
- supporting the development of domestic legislation and implementing EU regulations.
The Central Bank supervises the insurance sector, including those providing liability insurance as a line of business, under the Solvency II framework. This has applied to the majority of EU insurance firms since 1 January 2016. I understand that the Central Bank is satisfied that it receives comprehensive information on all lines of business, including liability insurance, under Solvency II to assist it in regulating the sector.
Finally, the Central Bank has informed me that, in common with other European regulators, it is not permitted to make this information public, except in very limited circumstances, where firms themselves publish the data in their own public reports (for example, the above-mentioned SFCR).
