Can Quinn Insurance prove solvency?

IN a week that was supposed to be all about the changing face of Ireland’s banking industry, the insurance sector – inadvertently – got in on the act to steal a little bit of unwanted thunder.

Now, the country’s next big economic D-Day – April 12 – will presumably see the board of Quinn Insurance (as opposed to the more familiar faces at the helm of the overall Quinn Group) trying to prove, in the High Court, that last week’s decision to appoint provisional administrators to the business was a mistake.

The Financial Regulator has said little since Tuesday, other than that it will be setting out its concerns – basically relating to alleged accounting measures that could put the insurance division’s solvency levels at major risk – in the next full hearing of the High Court. While Tuesday saw the regulator’s application for administrators to be appointed to Quinn Insurance granted by the High Court, the regulator has also started an internal investigation at Quinn.