Insurance Ireland estimates that Covid-19 business interruption claims involving members will amount to c.€430m once all claims are received and processed.

The organisation said the process is ongoing as businesses emerge from lockdown and submit their claims, which are then individually assessed.

€62m in claims has already been paid out to customers. 9,175 claims have been received to date, of which:
• 35% (3,227) have been accepted
• 13% (1,222) are being assessed
• 36% (3,264) did not have cover
• 16% (1,462) were withdrawn by the customer.

Insurance Ireland CEO Moyagh Murdock commented: “This data was collected from individual firms by Insurance Ireland in recent weeks. The Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented in its impact and will be one of the biggest insured events of recent times.

“We recognise the pandemic has illustrated some uncomfortable gaps between what people expected to be covered for and what their policy was designed for. We need to redouble our efforts to improve consumers’ understanding and trust in insurance products.

In Association with

“Business interruption insurance is a very complex issue but most policy wordings are clear in terms of what cover is provided and what exclusions are in place.

“As the Governor of the Central Bank highlighted recently, there are three types of policy here. There are some where there is no cover, there are others where there clearly is cover and there is a smaller group where it is ambiguous. No insurance market in the world provides widespread insurance coverage for pandemics and Ireland is no exception but, where there is cover, our members are engaging with customers and dealing with those claims.”

Insurance Ireland has a consumer FAQ on its website on business interruption insurance, which can be accessed here.