Insurance companies criticised for rising profits as report shows injury claims falling
Vivienne Clarke
Brian Hanley of the Alliance for Insurance Reform has criticised the continuing increase in insurance company profits at a time when claims are falling according to a new report from the Injuries Resolution Board.
Date from the report indicates that the volume and total value of personal injury claims has fallen significantly since the introduction of judicial guidelines on awards in 2021.
There has been a 40 per cent fall in claim volumes between 2019 – the year before the pandemic – and 2023 according to new figures on applications to the Injuries Resolution Board.
Mr Hanley told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that businesses, sports and voluntary groups are currently facing crippling costs and that the increase in insurance company profits comes at a time when claims were falling. Mr Hanley called on the incoming government to take action on the issue.
“We need them to act on our behalf. We have seen no meaningful or sustained reductions, certainly nothing reflective of the size of the savings being made or the reduction in the volume of claims.
The last report we had from the Central Bank showed that at a time when claim volumes were falling, s went up on average by eight percent and in the same 12 months, insurer profit margin increased by 55 per cent.
Insurance Ireland's CEO Moyagh Murdock told RTÉ that she welcomed the report and its insights.
She added that she was cautious about the period covered in the report because it overlapped with Covid 19 lockdowns when many businesses had restricted access.
“The last report from the Central Bank showed that this (insurance cover) was largely loss making. And that's the problem. We cannot attract new entrants into the market when there is a loss making situation.
"We have only seen it recently return to a nominal profit of 0.5 percent. So I don't accept that there has been significant profits at all and not unless there is some sort of a profitability expectation there we will not attract new competition.”
The majority of claims still go through the courts as opposed to the IRB, she said.
