MFSA denies granting insurance licence to fallen Irish billionaire

Contrary to reports in the Irish press which claimed that Sean Quinn has acquired a Malta-based insurance licence, MFSA chairman Joseph Bannister said that the regulator had received no application from Q2 and that there was no licenced insurer under the name of P Elliot & Co.

He confirmed that Cavan-based building firm P Elliot & Co had appiled for a licence in 2007 but said the firm then withdrew its licence in 2009 due to the economic downturn.

Q2 is not registered with Company House in Malta either, according to Bannister.

"You cannot buy a licence in Malta. Any licence granted would require extensive due diligence and the MFSA is in regular contact with other regulators," Bannister told Insurance Age.

The Irish Independent claimed Sean Quinn  was planning to open an underwriter named Q2 as a rival to his Quinn Insurance firm which is in administration and controlled by his former bankers, Anglo Irish Bank.

The newspaper reported the new venture will be headed up by Sean Quinn Jnr and former Quinn executive Dave Mackey; and that a number of former executives from the Quinn Group have been secretly working on the project for months.