FBD trims estimate of business-interruption costs

FBD Insurance

12 March 2023

Insurer FBD has slightly lowered its estimate of costs linked to business-interruption insurance to €42 million, from a previous figure of €43 million.

The costs arise from a High Court ruling in 2021 in a test case involving four pub owners.

The court ruled that the businesses were entitled to be compensated under their policies for the disruption caused by COVID-19 restrictions.

FBD has reached agreement with two of the four pub owners, but is awaiting a High Court ruling this year on the amount of losses to be covered before aiming to reach a final agreement with the remaining two.

Motor premiums fall

FBD recorded a pre-tax profit of €74 million for 2022 – down from €110 million in 2021. Underwriting profits fell to just under €86 million, while volatility on financial markets also hit its investment returns.

In its annual results statement, the insurer said its average premium rose by 0.6% during 2022, but motor premiums fell by just over 7%.

FBD said that the fall in motor premiums was due to a reduction in claims costs as a result of the new Personal Injury Guidelines, partially offset by the impact of increases in the costs of repairing motor damage.

It said that claims settled under the new guidelines were more than 40% lower when compared with the previous Book of Quantum.

Build-up of claims

Chief Executive Tomás Ó Midheach said, however, that there was still some uncertainty in the claims environment, as it awaited the outcome of a Supreme Court ruling on a challenge to the Personal Injury Guidelines to see how they would operate in practice.

FBD added that it was experiencing a build-up of older, higher-value injury claims, as practitioners awaited the ruling.

Its statement showed that commercial-business premiums increased by 5.6%, and farm premiums rose by 2.6%, mainly due to adjustments to sums insured to reflect inflation in construction costs.

Home-insurance premiums were up by just over 4%. 

Follow us for the latest updates & news

Recent News

Northern Ireland exam board boss wins £100,000 settlement

Northern Ireland’s Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) has paid a substantial settlement to its former interim chief executive who complained of sex, race and age discrimination and constructive dismissal. The sum paid to Margaret Farragher,...

Catriona Crumlish v Health Service Executive – Court of Appeal

On Oct. 15th, The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision against Caitriona Crumlish in her claim against Letterkenny University hospital. The plaintiff alleged that there was a failure to detect and diagnose breast cancer in May 2017 resulting in an alleged...

Recent Articles

Psychological Injury

Nervous Shock I The law allows recovery of damages for so called nervous shock, within certain parameters and subject to limitations.  Nervous shock is the most commonly used legal label for psychiatric or psychological injury. Psychiatric injuries include...

Public Authorities and Negligence

Powers and Duties In broad terms, public authorities are subject to civil liability for negligence and other civil wrongs, in the same way as private individuals and companies.  The State and other public bodies are responsible for the actions and omissions of...

Duty of Care (Part 2)

Limits to Neighbour Principle The famous neighbour principle re-stated the general basis of liability in negligence. It stated, that “you must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your...

Duty of Care (Part 1)

Meaning of Negligence I Negligence is used in a number of senses.  In one sense, it refers to a person’s state of mind.  An act is negligent, where it is done without giving due weight to the risks involved.  A person  (and his state of mind) may...

Join our Panel

You May Also Like...