Insurance Ireland’s new strategy!
Insurance Ireland has launched a new strategy for the coming years entitled 2025 And Beyond. Our vision is to be the expert and credible voice of, and for, Ireland’s insurance and reinsurance sector, supporting the role of insurance in meeting the needs of society and the economy.
We will deliver this Vision through our Mission, which is to represent the insurance sector and work with stakeholders to support the delivery of sustainable, innovative and effective insurance, reinsurance and assurance solutions for consumers and enterprise.
The strategy highlights three key strategic pillars for the work Insurance Ireland and its members will be delivering. These pillars are:
· Highlighting the contribution of the insurance sector
· Support building consumer trust in insurance
· Fostering effective market conditions
Given the current the geopolitical landscape for the insurance industry, the new strategy comes at a critical cross-roads for the sector and Insurance Ireland will step up to deliver on the priorities.
Highlighting the contribution of the insurance sector
The insurance sector acts as an economic contributor to a progressive and sustainable society. It employs 35,000 employees in skilled and rewarding jobs and contributes €2.7bn to the Irish Exchequer annually.
The industry insures all manner of risks which provide peace of mind to consumers, business & society and give certainty and confidence to function. Over €68m in total claims were paid in 2022 alone. The life and pensions industry safeguards €300bn of assets on behalf of policyholders.
The Irish insurance industry services 25m customers across the world and is the number one provider of cross-border life and non-life insurance to the EU.
The Irish insurance sector forms the largest representation of signatories under the Irish Women in Finance Charter, which underpins the financial services industry’s ambition to see increased participation of women at all levels in the workplace.
Support building consumer trust in insurance
Insurance Ireland and its members work to support the development of innovative products and services to meet the needs of consumers. We collaborate with policymakers by highlighting unintended consequences of legislation/regulation and support positive solutions for the benefit of consumers. We also promote awareness with consumers and other bodies of how insurance works and factors affecting the affordability of insurance products. Insurance Ireland provides a free and confidential insurance information service, where queries regarding insurance products and services can be answered. We also provide a website aimed at helping consumers and businesses understand more about their insurance products.
Insurance protects consumers from the full financial impact of life’s most traumatic events. Recent events such as Storm Eowyn for example, highlights the importance of insurance cover for consumers and businesses, with total preliminary figure of claims relating to the storm, as of 31 January, was €116 million, however, the total cost of the storm could be in the magnitude of €150-200 million. The majority of these claims were paid quickly and efficiently, with insurers ready for the challenge of major weather events like this. Insurers’ Claims Management teams deployed their individual weather catastrophe plans and deploy telephony surge protocols for call centres. Insurance Ireland members were also extremely active in communicating with policyholders and the public at large in the run up to the event,
In advance of the storm, Insurance Ireland also took action to inform insurance policyholders and issued a press statement to local and national media giving consumers advice on how to protect their cars and homes during the storm and also what to do in the case that they suffered any damage. Similar advice was issued on Insurance Ireland’s social media channels.
Insurance Ireland’s CEO, Moyagh Murdock, and Manager of Regulation and Policy Development, Michael Horan, made a number of appearances in the media in the immediate aftermath of the storm to share advice with consumers and reassure them that insurers would be on hand to help if damage occurred.
Fostering effective market conditions
Insurance Ireland supports a positive operating environment for domestic and international insurers and effective market conditions, enabling increased competition in the insurance market leading to better access and affordability of insurance products for individuals and businesses.
It is vital that insurers are able to underwrite risk effectively and Insurance Ireland partners with policymakers and consumers bodies regarding promoting the understanding of the quantification of risk and how this impact on solvency rules and the resulting effect on access and affordability of insurance products. We also promote the benefits of regulatory and supervisory convergence across the EU while maintaining access to international markets.
It is Insurance Ireland’s role to promote Ireland as an attractive domicile for international insurance providers. We will continue to work with and lobby Government to encourage them to take a leading role in the implementation of in attracting and maintaining the presence of the International insurance and reinsurance firms operating from Ireland, with a specific focus on the Department of Finance office for competition.
2025 And Beyond
A new vision for Insurance Ireland.