Full Year Results 2022

It is great to be in a position to announce another strong set of results for FBD despite negative investment returns. We continue to maintain our underwriting discipline delivering a healthy underwriting profit supported by positive prior year reserve development.

It is encouraging to see growth in customer and policy numbers. More customers are staying loyal to us which is testament to the value we offer them and the continuing customer service our people deliver. We have increased our relationship customers in Business and Farm this year and intend to build on this momentum in 2023 by continuing to differentiate ourselves through our product and service offering.

There is still uncertainty in the external claims environment as we await the outcome of the challenge to the Personal Injury Guidelines and we see how they operate in practice. We are now seeing reductions in average settlement costs feeding through in pre-litigation channels.

Underinsurance is being highlighted as a concern for customers as inflation is impacting rebuild and replacement costs and we are working with our customers to make sure they are adequately covered in the unfortunate event of a claim.

We expect a reasoned ruling from the Judge in respect of the Business Interruption Test Case in early 2023. This ruling is anticipated to provide certainty in respect of outstanding issues and assist in reaching a final agreement with publicans and enable us to pay the balance of claims this year.

We continue to build strong relationships with intermediary partners and have launched a Home product in conjunction with Bank of Ireland and successfully renewed our An Post Insurance partnership.

FBD remains a strongly capitalised business with a Capital Ratio significantly in excess of our stated risk appetite. It is our intention to now engage with stakeholders on taking steps to return further capital in the short and medium term.

Our momentum is a result of focusing on our customer’s needs, providing them with a personalised service and putting them at the heart of what we do, whether they are contacting us to claim, interacting with our Local Offices, our Mullingar Service Centre or Head Office. It was great to see so many customers and employees at the many shows and events around the country. I would like to thank our people for their continued dedication, as our good results are a function of their hard work supporting our customers.

Our strategy is delivering and I would like to thank the Board and the Executive Management Team for their continuing support and invaluable input as we continue to focus on meeting the needs of all our stakeholders.