The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's report on the public liability insurance market has concluded that there is a lack of transparency and that measures must be taken to improve conditions for buyers.
The report looks at the market from the point of view of competition, and found that there is "a lack of independent, public data on the insurance market as well as a lack of open access to claims history information" and that these factors may be acting as barriers to market entry.
The CCPC found that there has been decreasing availability of public liability insurance coupled with sharp increases in premiums over the past few years, and these issue need to be addressed.
Chairperson Isolde Goggin (pictured) stated: “Premium increases and availability of public liability insurance have been the focus of significant concern amongst businesses, community groups, sports organisations and voluntary associations across Ireland in recent years. Our market study found that high percentage premium increases for public liability insurance are an issue across all sectors of the economy.
"While this finding is neither new nor surprising, the CCPC has been able to quantify the extent of the issue. Respondents to the CCPC’s market research experienced premium increases of on average 15-20% in the past three years. In addition, reduced availability of public liability insurance seems to be primarily impacting certain sectors such as community and sports groups.
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"The study found that a lack of independent, public data on the insurance market as well as a lack of open access to claims history information may be acting as barriers to market entry. The lack of data on the operation of the market causes problems for policy makers as they work to improve the market for public liability customers.
"The study also finds that customers should be supported to better engage with the market. It recommends that the role and remit of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board should be enhanced to provide a more stable and lower cost claims environment."
The CCPC is recommending a number of actions which complement the recently published Action Plan for Insurance Reform, and Goggin concluded: "We have designed these recommendations to build upon each other and if implemented they will have an increasingly positive impact on the market for public liability in the short to long term”.
Among the recommendations are:
- That the Central Bank (CBI) publish National Claims Information Database information at insurer level.
- That the CBI develop its data collection exercise to provide aggregated information at subsector level, in future iterations of the NCID reports.
- That access to the Insurance Link database be provided to all insurers in the market and that Insurance Link be managed by an independent body.
- That the state should assist public liability buyers to become more engaged in the market by implementing a set of specific measures to improve buyer knowledgeability and access to information, including that the Department of Finance and CBI consider how to facilitate entry to the market through ‘InsurTech’ and the potential development of ‘Open Insurance’.
And, in order to promote a lower-cost claims environment the CCPC recommends that the role of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board be expanded and enhanced so that it will become the main personal injury settlement channel in Ireland.
The full report and all its recommendations are available here.
