Four step down as Quinn shakes up board

The Irish insurer Quinn has restructured its board.

The company said the shake-up was part of a process to implement corporate governance structures that are “more independent of the wider Quinn Group” and “resemble those of a publicly listed company”.

The Irish financial regulator has ruled out any involvement in the board restructuring.

The regulator fined Quinn Insurance €3.25m (£3.02m) for breaches of regulatory requirements last October. Chairman Sean Quinn was forced to step down.

The company said four directors had stepped down from the board to make sure it had a majority of independent non-executive directors.

These include Richard Stafford and Shane Morrison, who will retain their executive positions in Quinn Insurance as commercial director, and financial planning director and company secretary respectively.

Liam McCaffrey, Quinn Group chief executive and Kevin Lunney, Quinn Group development director have also stepped down.

However, Tony McCusker has joined Quinn Insurance as a non-executive director to help expand its presence in Northern Ireland and the UK.

Earlier this year, Sean Quinn told staff and customers that the group had total assets of €2.1bn with more than €900m in cash and bonds.

He said it would continue to develop its business in the UK.