The Central Bank has reprimanded insurance company Aviva and fined it a total of almost €500,000 for breaches of consumer protection guidelines.
The breaches cover a period from July 2007 to late January last year and are linked to the way Aviva dealt with complaints from customers.
Aviva's health insurance business was fined €245,000, and the life and pensions business was also fined €245,000.
The Central Bank said the firm did not put in place the necessary resources, procedures and checks to ensure that it complied with the consumer protection code.
It also said Aviva did not maintain an up-to-date record of all complaints.
The bank uncovered the problems in a review of complaints procedures in insurance companies in Ireland which it carried out in January 2011. 50 of 76 complaints examined at Aviva Life & Pensions were found to contain "clear breaches" of the consumer code. This was also the case in 163 of 198 files examined at Aviva Health Insurance.
In a statement this evening AVIVA said "We regret and accept that our implementation of these provisions of the Code [Consumer Protection Code] failed to adhere to the correct letter of the Code"
The company said that controls are now more robust and that in 2011 an enhanced complaints procedure was implemented which will meet the requirements of the code and better protect customers. Aviva says the Central Bank has recognised the company's co-operation and prompt action in its' settlement.
