A new health insurer, backed by the financier Mr Dermot Desmond and AIB, will open for business next week, raising the prospect of a price war that could benefit consumers, writes Barry O'Halloran.
Centura, led by the former Voluntary Health Insurance (VHI) chief executive, Mr Oliver Tattan, will enter the market on Wednesday to compete with the VHI and BUPA.
It is likely to trade under the name Vivas and will offer a range of health insurance products tailored for different age groups.
The VHI, which is understood by industry sources to be taking the challenge of Centura seriously, will launch a set of new, tailored products on the same day.
It is understood to have approached corporate customers in recent weeks to offer them more favourable terms ahead of the arrival of the new competitor.
Mr Tattan has already made it clear that he intends to compete on price with the existing operators. Sources believe Centura's entry to the market will push prices down.
Since 1996 the State-owned operator and British-owned BUPA have had the Republic's health insurance market to themselves.
The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) said yesterday that it had given Centura the licences it needed to sell health insurance. It will also get approval from the Health Insurance Authority before it begins trading.
Getting IFSRA's approval was the main hurdle the company faced on its way to the market.
With this out of the way, it is preparing for a high-profile launch on Wednesday.
The State's largest bank, AIB, has agreed to invest in Centura, and will sell the new company's products through its branch network.
Mr Desmond, who has interests in a range of public and private companies, mainly through his vehicle, International Investment and Underwriting (IIU), has also invested in the project. He recruited Mr Tattan in the late 1990s from VHI.
He wanted him to head up Daon, a company that hopes to turn biometrics - the use of people's unique features such as fingerprints, retinas and voice to enhance security - into big business.
Mr Tattan served as chief executive of the VHI for three years during the period when it was first getting to grips with competition from BUPA, which entered the market in 1996.
Two other former VHI executives are also understood to have been involved in the Centura project from the early stages.
They are Mr Stephen Loughman, who worked as an actuary with VHI and was listed as a director of Centura Health Administration when it registered with the Companies Office earlier this year, and Mr Mark Cohen, a former VHI marketing director.