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Insurance database to be extended by Central Bank

A Central Bank study has come out in favour of including data on employers’ and public liability insurance in the National Claims Information Database (NCID).

The NCID was set up initially in response to a Cost of Insurance Working Group (CIWG) report on the rising cost of motor insurance, and was aimed at improving data availability and transparency.

Legislation

The legislation setting up the database, the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018, was designed to allow for the future collection of other types of non-life insurance.

The Central Bank today said it was feasible to add employers’ and public liability insurance data to the NCID, “albeit with an incremental approach”.

“Credible, publicly available data in relation to employers’ and public liability insurance would benefit all stakeholders in the insurance market, and we intend to publish this data as soon as possible,” said the bank’s director of economics and statistics Mark Cassidy.

Data

He said it was clear from the bank’s study that there was currently a lack of publicly available data in relation to the claims costs and trends for both types of insurance.

Mr Cassidy added that this limited the ability to determine appropriate policy responses to address issues in this area.

The Central Bank intends to collect the new data in the second half of this year and publish the first report in the first half of 2021, with annual reports in subsequent years. The reports will include aggregate figures on premiums, claims and settlement costs.