50,000 new Quinn policies since move by regulator

QUINN INSURANCE has written 50,000 policies since going into provisional administration on March 30th but has lost both motor and commercial customers.

The policies written since the Financial Regulator moved to appoint administrators last month relate to new quotes and renewals.

But it is understood that Quinn Insurance has lost about 6 per cent of its motor business and about 30 per cent on the commercial side, which is driven by brokers.

The joint administrators have also put a proposal to the Financial Regulator to reopen parts of Quinn Insurance’s UK arm.

The administrators do not plan to re-enter the market for professional indemnity insurance in the UK, which has been loss-making, or certain UK motor and commercial business, including male drivers aged between 30 and 40.

The administrators are hoping for regulator approval in the coming days to reopen the UK operation for new business.

In a statement relating to the UK business, the Financial Regulator said: “The administrator is to forward further details regarding these proposals and we will give these prompt consideration.

“We remain encouraged by the nature and quality of our engagement with the administrator in this and other respects.”

One of the joint administrators, Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton, said all expressions of interest from up to 30 groups eyeing up Quinn Insurance would be considered carefully and that the administrators would contact all of the parties in due course.

Sources indicated that the initiative to accept the administration came from the board of Quinn Insurance rather than Quinn Group. Neither Seán Quinn nor Liam McCaffrey, the group’s chief executive, sit on the board of the insurance business.

The regulator said last night that it was still investigating Quinn Insurance and the creation of undisclosed guarantees by subsidiaries on Quinn Group debts of €1.2 billion which lower the company’s solvency threshold below the minimum allowed.

Mr McCaffrey, said the insurer was advised by its auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, that the guarantees did not need to be disclosed in regulatory solvency returns as no claim had been made on them.

He conceded that the guarantees were not disclosed in the accounts of the regulated firm, Quinn Insurance, but were in the accounts of its subsidiaries. “Are we saying they were disclosed to the regulator? No, they were not. Are we saying there was any wilful attempt to hide them from the regulator? No we are not,” he said.

Anglo Irish Bank is continuing to formulate its rescue plan for the Quinn Group, which would involve a €700 million bailout. The bank remains in talks with the group’s lenders over a restructuring of overall debts of €4 billion owed by the Quinn Group and family.

The confirmation of the insurer’s administration was described as “unhelpful” to the bank’s efforts to secure agreement with the bank’s US bondholders and its syndicate of Irish and UK banks.

Anglo has yet to put an updated proposal to the regulator.