Key Insurance Information

Overview

February 2023
 Key Insurance Information Overview Central Bank of Ireland Page 2

Contents
Overview............................................................................................ 3
Current publications ...................................................................... 4
Repository of solvency and financial condition reports ................... 4
National claims information database................................................... 5
Insurance sector statistics......................................................................... 6
Supervisory disclosures ............................................................................. 7

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Overview
The Irish insurance sector is large by international Less than 30% of
standards, with insurance undertakings domiciled premium written
by Irish insurers
in Ireland writing €99billion of premium in 2021.
relates to Irish
However, international business forms a significant proportion of domiciled risks.
this business and less than 30% of this premium relates to business
written with Irish policyholders.

Insurance undertakings domiciled elsewhere in the European Union

also provide insurance services in Ireland either directly (“freedom to
provide services” or FoS) or through Irish branches (“freedom of
establishment”, or FoE). Non-EU insurance undertakings also
operate in the Irish market on a “third country branch” basis; this is
currently the case for a small number of United Kingdom based
insurers.

Under the European framework governing the regulation of

insurance undertakings (“Solvency II”), the primary responsibility for
prudential oversight of an insurance undertaking sits with the
supervisory authority in their country of residence. As such, data
collected by the Central Bank on insurance undertakings domiciled in
Ireland is more granular than that available from undertakings
operating under FoE or FoS (other than for specific local
requirements such as the National Claims Information Database).

The prudential reporting framework under Solvency II provides

supervisory authorities with information on the financial position of
insurance undertakings, including detailed breakouts of individual
assets, capital positions and technical provisions. Due to the
professional secrecy requirements pertaining to these data, the
Central Bank cannot disclose individual information from the
Solvency II returns (other than that already publically disclosed via
solvency and financial condition reports).

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Current publications
Repository of solvency and financial condition
reports
Under the Solvency II regime, individual insurance undertakings are
required to produce a publically available Solvency and Financial
Condition Report (SFCR). The SFCR includes a detailed narrative
report on the firm coupled with key quantitative reporting templates
that contain details on premiums, claims, expenses, technical
provisions, and solvency.

Since the introduction of the Solvency II regime in 2016, the Central

Bank has made these individual firm-level reports (for all insurers
and reinsurers prudentially regulated by the Central Bank) accessible
in a dedicated SFCR repository (the first regulatory authority to take
such a step towards greater transparency). All SFCRs from 2016 to
2021 are currently available in this repository.

To enhance the value which can be derived from SFCRs, and in

particular to enable horizontal analysis and allow year-on-year
comparison, since 2017 the Central Bank has made available
consolidated tables of key information (at an individual undertaking
level) and a complete repository of the data contained in the
quantitative templates appended to the individual SFCRs.

These data are generally made available during Q3 in respect of the

previous financial year. For further information, please see the
dedicated section of the Central Bank website:

https://www.centralbank.ie/regulation/industry-market-
sectors/insurance-reinsurance/solvency-ii/solvency-and-financial-
condition-report-repository

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National claims information database

The Central Bank collects the data required to maintain the National
Claims Information Database (“NCID”) - a database that stores of
information on the cost of non-life insurance claims. The purpose of
the NCID is to improve transparency around the cost of settling
claims, and the impact this has on the cost of insurance – thereby
enabling better analysis and improved decision-making in relation to
the cost of insurance.

The NCID contains information related to private motor insurance,

employers’ liability insurance and public liability insurance, including
premium, policy and claims data. Any insurance firm providing
insurance services in the Republic of Ireland for in-scope classes of
non-life insurance is obliged to submit data to the NCID.

Data collected as part of the NCID is made available both as part of a

published report and through the release of data on the Central Bank
of Ireland website. The Central Bank has published four reports
related to private motor insurance (annually from 2019 to 2022) and
two reports related to employers’ liability insurance and public
liability insurance (in 2021 and 2022).

For further information, and to access the individual reports, please

see the NCID section of our website:

https://www.centralbank.ie/statistics/data-and-analysis/national-
claims-information-database

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Insurance sector statistics

Aggregate statistics are published by the Central Bank in respect of
the Irish insurance market on a quarterly basis.

In order to minimise the reporting burden on the insurance industry,

for statistical reporting purposes the European Central Bank allows
national central banks to derive the necessary statistical information,
to the extent possible, from data reported for supervisory purposes
under the Solvency II framework. As such, these aggregate statistics
are based on the Solvency II prudential returns and supplemented by
additional data provided for statistical purposes over and above the
supervisory requirements, including through the collection of a
number of statistical national specific templates, which provide
additional information on the aggregate balance sheet and securities
holdings.

The Central Bank publication on insurance corporation statistics

includes an aggregate balance sheet, with some breakout of the
assets and liabilities into specified categories. This publication is
produced on a “host” basis, including business by head offices,
subsidiaries and any domestic branch activity by entities with their
head office within the European Economic Area.

These data are available from Q4 2017 onwards. For further

information, please see the dedicated section of the Central Bank
website:

https://www.centralbank.ie/statistics/data-and-analysis/insurance-
corporations-statistics

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Supervisory disclosures
Under the Solvency II regulations, the Central Bank is required to
publish aggregate harmonised data that is consistent and
comparable with other insurance supervisors in the European Union.
Please note that information within the supervisory disclosures is
aggregate only, and not provided at an individual firm level.

The first data was published in August 2017 (covering 2016) and has
since been made available for calendar years up to and including
2021. These data are available on the Supervisory Disclosures
section of the Central Bank website:

https://www.centralbank.ie/regulation/industry-market-
sectors/insurance-reinsurance/solvency-ii/supervisory-disclosures

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