merrion street

The Minister for Financial Services and Insurance Michael D’Arcy has today (Thursday) welcomed the publication by Government of the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Bill. The Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe T.D. brought the Bill to Cabinet on 5th July 2018.

The Bill arises from recommendation 11 of the first report of the Cost of Insurance Working Group, which is chaired by Minister D’Arcy. It recommended the establishment of a National Claims Information Database to facilitate a more in-depth analysis of annual claims’ trends of motor insurance claims. This was seen as key to developing an understanding of how claims costs are impacting premiums, in particular understanding the relationship between the price paid by a customer for motor insurance and the cost to insurance undertakings. A data subgroup, chaired by the Department of Finance, was set up to oversee the development of the Database and the underpinning legislation. Its membership includes representatives from the Central Bank, the State Claims Agency, Personal Injury Assessment Board (PIAB), the Central Statistics Office and the Society of Actuaries.

The published Bill represents 18 months of complex work which has involved numerous meetings of the data subgroup, as well as consultations with industry and stakeholders. In parallel with the development of the Bill, the Central Bank has been working on developing the technical specifications of the database, and is close to finalisation of this process. The database will be established in 2019, subject to the Oireachtas agreeing the legislation. It is expected also that the first report of the Central Bank under the legislation will issue in 2019.

Welcoming the publication of the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Bill, Minister D’Arcy said:

“I am pleased to announce the publication of the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Bill 2018. This represents an important milestone in the implementation of one of the key recommendations of the Cost of Insurance Working Group’s Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance. It is essential that there is an improvement in transparency around what has caused motor insurance premiums to be so volatile both up and down over relatively short periods of time. I believe that in particular, the identification of settlement channel information should lead to a greater consistency in award levels and a greater use of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. This in turn should lead to a more stable claims environment, which should have positive impacts for the price of insurance paid by consumers. I look forward to having the National Claims Information Database put in place next year.”