Car insurers won't be prosecuted despite five-year probe

The CCCP said the refusal “calls into question the organisational attitude towards compliance”.

An opposition TD has described as “deeply disappointing” the fact that no legal action has been taken by the competition regulator against the insurance industry after a five-year investigation.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said it had secured “legally binding commitments” from six insurers - AIG Europe, AXA Insurance, Allianz, Aviva Insurance, FBD, and AA Ireland - to agree to independent oversight of competition compliance programmes. 

By contrast, the CCPC was critical of Brokers Ireland, which has 1,200 insurance and financial brokers as members, after it refused to be bound by those commitments. 

The CCCP said the refusal “calls into question the organisational attitude towards compliance”.

Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said the failure by the CCPC to prosecute the industry in any way is “deeply disappointing” and said “this is not the kind of supervision we need”.

“It’s important to note the CCPC isn’t taking this any further,” Mr Doherty said. 

“What does it say to senior insurance executives that five years later they’re not going to take any action? They are acting like they don’t have the power, that it is for the courts, but the CCPC is the body that takes it to the courts.”

All seven parties had denied any breaches of competition law.

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty: 'This is not the kind of supervision we need.'

The Alliance for Insurance Reform said the fact the investigation had taken five years makes its findings “barely relevant”.

The competition watchdog’s investigation began in 2016 after a number of statements from insurance industry professionals appeared to be “forecasting with confidence that premiums would rise”, or price signalling, a CCPC spokesperson said.

Price-signalling is when a business makes competitors aware it intends to increase prices, thus encouraging its rivals to do likewise.

The new commitments secured from insurers include the provision of “internal monitoring mechanisms” to detect compliance breaches, annual submissions to the CCPC demonstrating conformity with the new commitments, and protection for employees who might wish to act as whistleblowers.

A spokesperson for the CCPC said the commission is “in no way” giving the insurance industry “a clean bill of health”. 

It has written to the Central Bank to “outline broader cultural concerns in the industry which have come to light during the course of the investigation.”