Ireland's financial regulator has underlined its insistence on insurance intermediaries holding professional indemnity insurance with a €2,750 fine.

The subject of the fine was Seamus Sutcliffe (trading as The Mortgage Centre) who contravened the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) Regulations 2005. The regulator also reprimanded him. The Central Bank views PII as a major prudential safeguard and bastion of 'investor protection' and is keen to assure consumers that, in the event of a valid professional negligence claim, funds will be available to them in connection with their claims.

In recent years, the Central Bank has allocated considerable resources to deal with firms that fail to meet the required standards of compliance in respect of their obligations relating to the requirement to hold adequate PII. It has imposed fines revoked firms’ authorisations in the past.