Central Bank examines how life insurers take on new investments in thematic review – The Irish Times

The Central Bank confirmed it is continuing its assessment of how domestic life insurers are taking on new investment business as part of its ongoing programme of thematic reviews that look at specific issues across an industry.

The regulator highlighted in its 2026 Regulatory & Supervisory Outlook, published earlier this year, that it was continuing a life insurance thematic review from 2025. It said that the work was looking at “aspects of new business administration processes in the domestic life sector with a focus on the adequacy of internal controls to ensure that policies are issued in line with requirements”.

The bank typically has between two and six thematic reviews ongoing at any given time, according to regulatory sources. “This is a business-as-usual thematic review,” one of the sources said.

A spokeswoman for the regulator said that this particular review is focused “a small number of specific retirement and savings/investment products”.

“This review forms part of our ongoing supervisory engagement with the sector,” she said. “Consumers do not need to take any action at this time. Firms will be required to contact affected customers directly. As this is an ongoing review, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage. We continue to engage with firms and will publish a report in due course.”

The Irish Independent reported on Thursday that the review – which it characterised as a “major” investigation – has found some possible discrepancies in investments unit pricing. This is the way insurance companies calculate the value of the investment units held by customers in products such as pensions and savings plans.

The report said it is not yet clear how many customers are affected, but that early indications suggest the number may be relatively small and could result in refunds.

It added that the specific issue relates to the how long it takes insurers to buy units in investment funds after customers have received money from the customers, noting that some life assurers can sometimes take weeks fully invest the money, leading to the potential for losses in volatile markets.