• Irish Insurance Federation changes name to Insurance Ireland
• Philip Smith, Chief Executive of RSA Ireland, is new President of Insurance Ireland
• Insurance Ireland commits to working with Regulator to ensure Ireland can compete on international stage and attract new insurers to the Irish market
• Insurance Ireland cautions against further levies on sector

Speaking today at the AGM and Annual Lunch of Insurance Ireland, Kevin Thompson, Chief Executive of the organisation that represents the Insurance industry in Ireland, has said that the sector has an important role to play in Ireland’s economic recovery with both its domestic and international sectors capable of competing for more business and more jobs.  A recent survey of members found that the sector contributes over €1.1 billion in tax to the exchequer and that the organisation’s top 22 members managed total assets in excess of €187 billion.

The Insurance Ireland Annual Lunch was held in the Mansion House, Dublin on Wednesday 12 June, in the company of guest of honour John Moran, Secretary General, Department of Finance, and was attended by 250 delegates representing domestic and international Irish insurance companies operating in Ireland.  Mr Moran was welcomed to the event by the new President of Insurance Ireland, Philip Smith, who is chief executive of RSA Ireland.  Insurance Ireland, which is the representative body for insurance companies in Ireland, today changed its name having been previously known as the Irish Insurance Federation. 

Insurance Ireland said today that it was keen to work with the regulator to ensure that the regulatory framework is fit for purpose to enable Ireland to compete on the International stage and attract new insurers to the Irish market.  Chief Executive, Kevin Thompson, said “An important mission for us is to help enhance the reputation of our country, provide the necessary protection for our policy holders, retain the international insurance companies based here and help our insurance industry to grow, thereby helping the national recovery.  Our ambition is for a strong progressive sector that continually delivers quality services to consumers and businesses supported by the large investment our members make in the area of regulatory compliance, training and education of their officials.  We are very keen to work with our regulator to continue to develop our regulatory framework to meet the needs of the ever evolving business environment we work in.

Our industry can be proud of its contribution but we and our other stakeholders cannot be complacent especially as other jurisdictions are increasingly enhancing their insurance frameworks with the express goal of increasing their attractiveness as a base for international insurance companies.  A good example is the recent announcement by the Financial Secretary to the UK Treasury highlighting the UK Government’s strategy for the insurance sector to enhance its position as a leader in global business. We will engage on behalf of our members with the necessary stakeholders here to ensure that a framework is in place to allow both our domestic and international insurance sectors to flourish and to compete effectively for more business and more jobs for the benefit of our economy.”

Mr. Thompson, welcomed the decision by Minister Noonan in last year’s budget to remove the 0.6% pension levy after 2014, saying that this was a positive step for the sector and its customers as this levy has been extremely problematic. “While we understand the difficulties faced by the exchequer over the last number of years,” Thompson said “we would be opposed to the introduction of any further levies, as we believe they damage our ability to compete and are unfair to our customers who ultimately have to pay for them.”

Mr. Thompson concluded his address by saying “2012 was yet another challenging year for the insurance industry, marked by continuing changes in the fiscal landscape, the economy battling through the recession and the increasing occurrence of fraudulent claims.  In addition, Ireland has suffered frequent adverse weather events over the past number of years. From 2000 to 2012, €1.2 billion was paid out to customers and business owners during these periods of severe weather marked by floods and major freeze events. And it is to the credit of our members that we responded quickly during those times, when speed was of the essence for people impacted by such unexpected disasters.”

To view Insurance Ireland’s Annual Report see https://www.insuranceireland.eu/news-publications-and-events/publications.

Click to view photos from Insurance Ireland’s Annual Lunch

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