Ex-RSA chief asked chairman for support

Philip Smith, former head of RSA’s Irish unit, asked for support from the division’s chair as directors sketched out the shape of a probe into accounting matters, an employment hearing heard.

Mr Smith asked unit chairman Leo Blennerhassett to “do your best for me’,’ as the firm began an investigation into how the company set aside money for large claims in October 2013, Mr Blennerhassett told an Employment Appeals Tribunal hearing in Dublin yesterday.

His evidence came in the fifth day of Mr Smith’s constructive dismissal case against RSA. Mr Smith left the firm in November 2013 as it investigated accounting at the unit. Mr Blennerhassett received the request from Mr Smith in a call on his mobile phone in October of that year, days after the reserving issues first emerged.

Mr Blennerhassett said he was in the RSA building at the time, so thought Mr Smith’s approach “strange”. Mr Blennerhasset said he agreed to Mr Smith’s request, as he thought the chief executive had done nothing wrong at that point.

Mr Blennerhassett said he was surprised by comments on Mr Smith’s strident management style from subordinates in a draft report later submitted to the central bank, as he had seen no evidence of Mr Smith intimidating staff. Still, he said he had no reason to doubt the contents of the report, which was sent to regulators before Mr Smith was consulted.

Mr Smith has told the tribunal he was not involved in the fixing of reserves for large claims.