Liquidators seek court order to bring end to PMPA saga

The final act in the liquidation of PMPS, the deposit taking arm of the PMPA group, is to take place in the High Court on Monday.

Liquidators Ray Jackson and Bill Horgan are expected to ask for an order of the court that approximately €400,000 be divided amongst approximately 6,000 former depositors. The money constitutes the last of the funds available to the liquidators.

The depositors have already been repaid the entire balances that existed in their accounts at the time of the industrial and provident society's collapse in December 1983.

The total of the balances, £10 million (€12.5 million), was paid out to the depositors during the 1980s and 1990s. However, interest was not paid on the balances frozen at the time of the society's collapse.

Although the depositors were receiving a range of different interest rates on their deposits up to the time the accounts were frozen, the court is to be asked to pay out the remaining monies on what is essentially a pro rata with deposit basis.

A meeting of former depositors in Dublin some time ago agreed to such an approach.

The PMPA (Private Motorists Protection Association) group was built up by former teacher and civil servant Joe Moran at a time when most insurance business here was handled by branches of UK firms.

Concerned about the cost of car insurance, Mr Moore set up a business that eventually became the largest car insurer in the Republic.

However in 1983 there were concerns about the solvency of the insurance business and an act was rushed through the Oireachtas in one day which protected the PMPA insurance business and imposed a levy on other insurance companies.

The same law, however, did not provide any protection to other arms of the PMPA group, such as the PMPS (Private Motorists Protection Society) deposit taking operation. Concerns about the investment policies of this business, which involved investments in other PMPA businesses, led to its going into liquidation and Mr Horgan, formerly of Arthur Andersen, being appointed liquidator. More recently Ray Jackson, of KPMG, was appointed as joint liquidator with Mr Horgan.

The PMPA business was eventually bought by the Guardian Royal group and more recently by Axa Insurance.