As with the North move, the reason was given as hedging against the possibility of Britain losing access to the single market after Brexit.
“We have concluded that Dublin offers the best location to serve European members post-Brexit,” Standard Club’s CEO Jeremy Grose said in a statement on Tuesday.
Insurers were making contingency plans after Britain’s vote to leave the EU means they risk losing ‘passporting’ rights that allow UK financial services firms to trade in Europe without the need for locally regulated entities.
“The tax, regulatory and legal regimes are similar to the UK, which means that the transition will be easier to manage than some of the other competing locations,” Grose said. “We will seek regulatory approval and progress our plans to establish a presence in Dublin during 2018.”
In a statement last Monday, North said that following the result of the UK referendum on membership of the EU in July, 2016, North and Sunderland Marine have been developing contingency plans to ensure that both companies continue to have access to EU markets.
They currently rely on EU ‘passporting’ rights to insure risks located in the European Economic Area (EEA). Details of the future UK/EU trading relationship and its implementation are currently unknown and subject to ongoing negotiations between the EU and the UK government.
However, our expectation is that North and Sunderland Marine’s existing ‘passporting’ rights will ultimately be lost, either immediately upon termination of the UK’s EU membership, or at the end of any agreed transition period, the P&I Club said.
Due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future regulatory landscape, and a realistic prospect that ‘passporting’ rights could be lost as early as 29th March, 2019 on expiry of the current two-year Article 50 notice period, it was agreed at a meeting of the North Board of Directors on 8th November, 2017 that a subsidiary insurance company should be established in Ireland to underwrite all future EEA business of North and Sunderland Marine with effect from 20th February, 2019.
Earlier this year, shipping and insurance sources said other P&I clubs were exploring locations including Luxembourg and Cyprus, Reuters reported.
UK P&I Club said last month it planned to announce its Brexit plans for an EU subsidiary by the end of this year.
Dublin has emerged as the EU location for a number of players in the wider insurance market, including specialist insurance groups Chaucer, part of Hanover Insurance Group and Beazley.