As members of the Alliance for Insurance Reform the Federation supports their work during this time. Please see updates of their activities below.
The alliance are in very regular contact with the Department of Finance regarding what we are looking for from the Minister, specifically:
- Set up a fast-track system to assess whether individual policies cover business interruption during the crisis
- Get commitments from insurers that they will pause, extend or gives a rebate on policies covering organisations that have closed down for the duration of the crisis
- Get clarity on media reports that some insurers intend suspending cover on premises still closed after 30 days due to the crisis
Insurance Ireland have confirmed to the Department that:
- “Whilst most policy wordings are clear in terms of what cover is provided and what cover exclusions are in place, we agree that there could be some cases where there is a doubt about the meaning of a term. In such cases insurers are committed to fully adhere to the requirements of the existing Consumer Protection Code to treat customers fairly and, where appropriate, to give the benefit of the doubt to the customer in adjudicating a claim.
- We agree that the Government advice to close a business in the context of Covid-19 should be treated as a direction. Each policy is different and there may well be other factors which lead to the adjudication of whether a claim is valid or not.”
Please note that this applies to Insurance Ireland members and that freedom-of-service (FOS) insurers from other countries are not tied to these commitments.