Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:233. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Finance the most up-to-date figures for the amount paid out annually in motor insurance claims from each insurance company. [33527/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 23 July 2019
Ceisteanna (233)
Freagraí scríofa
At the outset, it is important to note that as Minister for Finance, while I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation, I have no role in the day to day supervision of insurers. Consequently, my Department does not collect the type of information being sought by the Deputy.
My officials contacted the Central Bank on this matter and they indicated that the regime for reporting insurance data to the Central Bank changed with the introduction of the Solvency II Directive in 2016. Under Solvency II, the Central Bank is now required to publish aggregate harmonised data that is consistent and comparable with other insurance supervisors in the European Union.
Individual firms are also required to produce a publicly available Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR). The SFCR includes a detailed narrative report on the firm coupled with key quantitative reporting templates that contain details on premiums, claims, expenses, technical provisions, solvency and other information. This data is available on the Central Bank’s website. In line the with professional secrecy requirements of the Solvency II Directive, the Central Bank does not disclose details on individual insurance companies received via prudential returns beyond those which are included in the SFCR.
Under the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018, the Central Bank is now required to collect, study and publish data from insurance undertakings on the income generated by, and costs associated with, non-life insurance business. The National Claims Information Database (NCID) is the repository for this data. The purpose of the NCID is to increase transparency around the cost of claims by collecting data at a greater level of detail than previously collected. This will enable in-depth analysis and objective data-driven policymaking.
The NCID was one of the recommendations made by the Cost of Insurance Working Group, which was established within my Department in 2016.
Private motor insurance is the initial type of insurance in scope of the NCID, and the Central Bank started collecting data on 30 April 2019. The Bank is currently checking the data received to date for completeness and accuracy, and plans to publish the first report on private motor insurance before the end of 2019. It is important to note that any report or publication produced by the Central Bank under the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018 shall not identify any insurance undertaking or individual.
Finally, in order to be as helpful as possible, I am providing aggregate data which has been extracted from Insurance Ireland’s annual “FactFile”. The most recent FactFile relates to 2017 and was published in June 2019. It shows the following data in relation to motor insurance claims costs for Insurance Ireland members:
|
Motor Insurance Type |
Net Incurred Claims Costs €m (2017) |
|
Private |
778 |
|
Commercial |
186 |
|
Total |
964 |