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THE CENTRAL BANK says it is “concerned” by the findings of an inspection they carried out in to how insurance companies deal with customers and their claims for water and flood damage.
The Central Bank of Ireland today published its findings from a themed inspection into household property claims resulting from water damage. They said they considered such a specialised report appropriate given the increased frequency of floods in recent years.
Claims
The report identified a number of shortcomings by the insurance companies. They stated there was weak oversight and controls over outsourced claims handling or loss adjusters and in isolated incidences there was potentially unfair settlement.
The also found that there was poor transparency in policy documentation and a lack of consumer awareness of the terms and conditions of their policies.
The Central Bank said there was also a lack of transparency around the practice of insurers retaining a portion of the agreed settlement, which was typically 30 per cent, until reinstatement has been completed and final invoices have been submitted (known as retention) and the extent to which consumers are not claiming the portion retained.
They added they were also concerned about the appropriateness of building insurance sold to some apartment owners.
Lack of transparency
Director of Consumer Protection, Bernard Sheridan said:
We are concerned by the findings of this inspection which has identified a lack of controls when using third parties to handle claims, a lack of transparency around the claims retention policy and policy terms that consumers need to be aware of at time of purchase and when making a claim.We also considered that policy booklets contained a number of terms and conditions which may not be fair or transparent to consumers.
Today the Central Bank is issuing an industry letter to insurers, drawing attention to the inspection’s findings and emphasising their requirement to be in full compliance with the code of conduct when handling claims.
Following the review, they said they were following up directly with the insurers inspected to ensure issues are addressed and further investigations of specific issues is appropriate in some cases, they said.
Review and improve controls
Insurers are being instructed to review and improve controls over third party service providers, to review policy documentation to ensure terms identified are fair and transparent and that material information such as the practice of retention is included.
The Central Banks said that some insurers are already taking corrective action in respect of the transparency of their policy documentation, while they said the practice of retentions is an issue that the Central Bank intends to further engage with the industry on, to ensure the best interests of consumers are protected.
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Let it go….
@HearMeNow33: Are you mad? This will be wall to wall, for a few weeks.
@Tommy Berry: True. Can’t let a chance of some shinner bashing pass them by.
@Seán Óg: says the shinnerbot
When is the Gardaí report on Charlie Flanagan potential Covid-19 breaches at Colm Horkan funeral
@tirnanog1979: no comparison and you know it
@Jane: Both funerals broke the regulations Jane and you know it.
@tirnanog1979: that would be Detective Garda Colm Horkan.
@Seán Óg: SF could have sent representatives to Mr Storeys funeral as happened with Garda Horkans funeral and I don’t think anyone could have complained. Instead SF attended the funeral en masse, traveling from all over the country to do so and gathered in a graveyard to give a graveside oration where no burial was taking place.
@Jane: Nonsense, they were as bad as each other
@Jane: Both funerals had large crowds and poor social distancing. If you admonish SF for the Storey funeral then surely you must do the same for Garda Horkan’s funeral. Your disliking of SF seems to be clouding your judgement Jane.
@Seán Óg: but only one was attending in very large numbers by political party reps from all over the country. That’s the difference.
Why is it even when SF are obviously wrong no criticism is allowed?
Why do ye want to replace a crowd that dodge questions with another crowd that dodge questions?
@Jane: Critism is allowed Jane, but the obvious point you insist on ignoring, is that critism is selective and hypocritical. As was pointed out, you cant criticise one and not the other – but in your case, you did just that.
To me, both were wrong. It would seem, that to you, there is only political captital to be made from criticising one.
@tirnanog1979: It ill behooves Shinners to comment on any Garda’s funeral —–They were responsible for quite a few in their time and indeed have been known to give rapturous acclaim to certain Garda’s murderers.
@Angela McCarthy: and you are ignoring the involvement of a political party in only one of the funerals. A political party that was involved in the making of the rules for everyone else in that jurisdiction.
@Jane: A political party? dont you mean political parties, as more than one seems to be set on debating it. but not the other.
@Angela McCarthy: not sure what you mean by that Angela. Only one party is in bother over it because only one party attended en masse. Bringing a crowd to the graveyard unnecessarily was just ridiculous.
Everyone understands that Bobby Storey was an important figure in SF and as such no one would have batted an eyelid if some of the senior politicians in SF had attended as was done with Garda Horkans funeral.
@Jane: Where did I say no criticism is allowed? People attending both funerals broke government guidelines. So don’t cherry pick your outrage Jane. Call a spade a spade.
@Seán Óg: tell you what Sean you just continue to ignore what are the obvious differences between them as I’ve pointed out above. And continue to be outraged at all and any criticism leveled at SF.
@Jane: I have criticised SF over the attendance of Bobby’s funeral. Because it was wrong to stage a funeral with those numbers in attendance. But you ignore the fact that large numbers attended the Garda’s funeral, including some politicians. Same rules for everyone Jane.
One rule for that crowd, Sur they are the “law” 8 cremations the same day and no one allowed .
@Ger Murray: who’s that crowd ?.
Clear the decks, Nolan show can’t wait to ramp up the whole funeral again, rest in peace Big Bobby, a giant among men.
now could they start investigating collusion with he uvf
The usual crowd talking about people in uniforms blah, blah, blah. What I saw were people in ordinary clothes coming out to see a true republican being laid yo rest, with a quarter of a million watching online which Sinn Féin Féin set up. The PSNI have already stated that there were no problems with it. Establishmemt supporters again trying to take away from their parties failure. No bank bailout? Ha ha
Just ticking a box… Nothing will happen
have your say