Dr. Swenja Surminski:

It is fair to say that Ireland is an exception in terms of having a purely privately based insurance system. The UK takes a similar approach and although Scandinavia leans more towards the private side, both Ireland and the UK are pretty much an exception because the state is involved in some form in most other European countries. The state does this either through providing the re-insurance in order that the insurers come back and re-insure or actually providing the entire thing. Spain would be an example of the latter course. In many countries, I would be asked how they can attract the private sector to do more while in other countries like Ireland and the UK, there is the question of whether the Government should be more involved. The insurance industry in the UK has asked for more state involvement. The initial suggestion was that the Flood Re scheme would be backed by the state and have a public guarantee behind it. That has not happened until now. It is not the official line. It is unclear what happens once the fund gets overwhelmed. If there were a major flood that would wipe out the fund, it is likely that the State would come in and provide some last resort backing.