Quinn moves to allay brokers’ fears after months of rumours

Colin Morgan, chief executive of Quinn Insurance, is to hold detailed talks with UK brokers next month, Insurance Times can reveal.

Colin Morgan is scheduling meetings with the Irish insurer’s broker partners at its London offices for three days at the beginning of March.

The move comes after months of market speculation about the financial stability of Quinn. It has consistently denied the rumours.

The insurer was fined €3.25m (£2.87m) by the Irish regulator last October and group chairman Sean Quinn, who was also fined €200,000, was forced to step down from the board of the insurance company. Sean Quinn last month admitted his family had lost more than €1bn on investments in Anglo Irish Bank, which has been nationalised.

Quinn is now giving brokers the chance to have a lengthy conversation about the company.

However, chief executive Morgan played down the meetings. He told Insurance Times it was not unusual for him to visit brokers in the UK. “I’m probably in the UK once a month visiting brokers, there’s nothing particular in that. We have about 700 brokers in the UK and all the senior team visit them from time to time. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.”

Morgan also hit back at the speculation that has surrounded the company and said the insurer had come under attack from its rivals. “We didn’t start the rumours, we don’t know where they came from, I can’t comment on them, I don’t want to give them any credibility …

“Someone was trying to attack us and did us some damage but they ran out of steam pretty quickly. I can only assume that it was due to competition. We are in business and we’re focused on running the business.”

He added: “At the time of the rumours, people wanted some comfort, but I’ve not noticed any impact on the business.”