Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 8 March 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

General Scheme of the Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed)

9:30 am

Mr. Kevin Thompson:

I refer to my earlier comments. We have no visibility in terms of premiums or the commercial activities and how our members price. What we do know is that, within the market in which they operate, we had a lot of volatility and, of course, we had Setanta. There is the established fact of the claims inflation environment which is out there. We also had a reduction in investment returns and changes within the jurisdiction limits. There were a lot of factors out there which led to the situation we had. On the positive side, what we have seen recently, particularly through the CSO figures, is a reduction in motor insurance premiums to the extent of some 9% or 10%. Our view is that market dynamics will play out and companies will compete against each other, and, when they do, it generally delivers good value for the consumer.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.