Insurance company fined €10,000

AN INSURANCE firm has been fined €10,000 by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority for overcharging some of its customers.

South Dublin-based OHC Insurances, whose main shareholder is Killiny businessman David O'Hanrahan, agreed on instruction from the regulator to refund the money with interest to the customers in question. The sums overcharged and the number of customers involved was not disclosed.

The company, whose registered office is at Main Street, Dundrum, appears from its latest abridged accounts to be a relatively modest enterprise.

The company had €18,885 in its profit-and-loss account in May 2006, the accounts indicate. "The financial regulator has reasonable cause to suspect that breaches of regulatory requirements occurred in relation to the failure of OHC Insurances Limited to comply with certain provisions of the Consumer Protection Code, resulting in certain customers being overcharged," the regulator noted in a statement.

Mr O'Hanrahan is one of two directors of the company, the other being Maria O'Hanrahan, also of Killiney. Mr O'Hanrahan is also a director of a company called OHC Financial Services.