RSA Insurance Ireland posts €172m loss following claims crisis
New accounts by RSA Insurance Ireland Ltd also show revenues from gross premiums fell by 5% to €385.66m.
Irregularities resulted in RSA’s parent first injecting €262m into the firm in 2013 and then making further payments totalling €137m last year.
The irregularities were discovered in 2013 and following an internal disciplinary process, CFO Rory O’Connor and claims director Peter Burke were dismissed in January last year.
The then CEO of RSA Insurance here, Philip Smith was initially suspended by the firm as it investigated the irregularities and he subsequently resigned from his post, saying he had been made a “fall guy”.
Mr Smith was earlier this year was awarded a record €1.25m after the Employment Appeals Tribunal ruled he had been constructively dismissed.
The tribunal noted at the time that suspending Mr Smith on national television “was the equivalent of taking a sledge hammer to his reputation as well as to his prospects of ever securing employment in the industry again in Ireland, Europe or possibly beyond”.
RSA has appealed the ruling to the court with RSA Group general counsel Derek Walsh saying the company was “astonished” by the amount of the award.
The firm last year incurred €48.77m in exceptional costs for restructuring, remediation and impairment of intangible assets.
The exceptional costs include restructuring costs of €12.43m relating to a voluntary redundancy programme.
The numbers employed at the firm last year fell from 532 to 474.
The remediation programme cost €16.97m.
Pay for the directors, including pension contributions, last year fell from €1.4m to €1.37m.
“The company carried out a comprehensive business review during the year which benefited from input from a wide range of stakeholders across the business.
"The output was a bottom-up portfolio led operational plan for the three years 2015 to 2017,” the directors say.
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