RSA suspends three bosses in Irish division amid warnings of suspected financial irregularities

Insurer RSA suspended three executives in its Irish division late last night amid warnings of suspected financial irregularities.
The FTSE firm also issued a £70million profits warning – its second in the space of three days – and said it is working with the Central Bank of Ireland on an investigation.

Insurer: RSA issued a £70million profits warning, its second in three days
The announcement, made several hours after the London stock market finished trading, came on top of the profits warning it issued on Tuesday which saw shares plunge by 8 per cent.


The three suspended Irish executives are chief executive Philip Smith, finance director Rory O’Connor and claims director Peter Burke. RSA said it has begun ‘an investigation into issues in the Irish claims and finance functions which were identified during a routine internal audit’. It refused to elaborate on what the ‘issues’ are.
The Irish arm of the company last year had premiums of £8.9billion and accounts for around 4 per cent of the group’s activities. 
It said that last night’s announcement was ‘separate’ to the problems already identified in the Irish  division earlier this week.
The company, Britain’s biggest non-life insurer, last week cut its dividend payments after blaming bad weather for increased claims.
Group chief executive Simon Lee has already faced pressure from investors after slashing the dividend in February.