Results 14,821-14,840 of 26,043 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Do they have the reserves to change their investment profiles to more risky investments? Do they have the reserves available? What ratios of reserves are they required to have under Solvency II that would not have been required under Solvency I?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: So it is a risk-weighted model.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: The devil is in the detail. As it stands, would the level of reserves the insurance companies are holding enable them to diversify their portfolios of investments to riskier types of investments?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: As far as I am concerned, share capital and reserves are all capital. They cannot increase their share capital. The only way they can increase their capital is to increase their reserves. The only way they can increase their reserves is by increasing their profits. The only way they can increase their profits is by charging higher premiums.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Does Dr. Roux think the increase in premiums has nothing to do with Solvency II?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: They are two sides of the same coin.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: I would prefer a short answer.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Fine. I would also like to ask about the losses in the companies. In total, how many companies are operating in the motor insurance market in Ireland at the moment?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: How many of them are regulated by the Central Bank?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: That basically means 14 companies are not regulated.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Fine. What percentage of the market is taken up by the eight companies that are regulated by the Central Bank?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: What percentage of the market is accounted for by these eight companies?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: I am interested in what is regulated by the Central Bank.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Basically, an increasing share of the market is being taken up by companies that are not regulated by the Central Bank.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Okay. Dr. Roux mentioned that losses of €213 million, €198 million and €273 million were earned in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. When did the Irish regulator first realise that the motor insurance providers were making a loss?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: At that point, did the Central Bank make it known publicly, for example in a report, that it had clear reservations about the pricing models under which Central Bank-regulated companies in the Irish motor insurance sector were operating?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Did the Central Bank believe in 2013 that the motor insurance premiums which were being charged in Ireland were too low?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: I want to get the point because I have a limited amount of time available to me. From what we have seen, insurance companies were driving for market share and premiums were coming down. The companies were continuing to make losses. This was bubbling away. As far as ordinary drivers from all age groups who were looking to get motor insurance, including young drivers, were concerned, this...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: They would be European accounts. I am talking specifically about the Irish market. Am I right when I say the losses quoted by the Central Bank today are losses in the Irish market?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Costs of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)
Kieran O'Donnell: Okay. I am asking specifically about the Irish market.