Price Signalling and Private Motor Insurance in Ireland: A Breach of Competition Law?

Gorecki, Paul (2022): Price Signalling and Private Motor Insurance in Ireland: A Breach of Competition Law?

Abstract

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) allegations of price signalling in 2015 and 2016 by five insurers, a broker, and a broker representative body with respect to private motor insurance (PMI) premium increases did not reach, based on publicly available information, the threshold required to establish a concerted practice that breached competition law. There was a plausible alternative explanation, the underwriting cycle, for the premium increases. The failure of the CCPC to articulate a clear position on when public announcements on future prices are likely to breach competition law is likely to chill competition and damage consumer welfare. Had the CCPC investigated the alleged price signalling under the Competition (Amendment) Act 2022, which implements the ECN+ Directive, there is no reason to assume that the outcome would have been any different, despite extra powers such as civil fines.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: private motor insurance; Competition Act 2002; Competition (Amendment) Act 2022; concerted practice; tacit collusion; Competition and Consumer Protection Commission; price signalling.
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D22 - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis; D - Microeconomics > D4 - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design > D43 - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection; G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services > G22 - Insurance ; Insurance Companies ; Actuarial Studies; K - Law and Economics > K2 - Regulation and Business Law > K21 - Antitrust Law; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L13 - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets; L - Industrial Organization > L4 - Antitrust Issues and Policies > L41 - Monopolization ; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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