THE IRISH Financial Services Regulatory Authority has reprimanded Marsh Ireland and fined it €5,000 after the insurer failed to issue receipts to customers.

The regulator said the firm did not provide receipts to all of its commercial customers. Neither did it issue receipts to personal customers of its Cork office.

"The Financial Regulator has reasonable cause to suspect that breaches of regulatory requirements occurred in relation to the failure of Marsh Ireland Ltd to issue receipts in accordance with section 30 of the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995," it said.

"In relation to the suspected breaches, the Financial Regulator confirms that there was no loss to any customer of Marsh Ireland Ltd and that no client has made a complaint in relation to the suspected breaches."

A spokesman for Marsh said the breaches in Cork occurred in 2004 and were discovered by the firm in 2007 when its finance department moved to Dublin. He did not know how many specific cases there were. He did not know when the other breaches occurred or how many cases there were.

Marsh Ireland chief executive Joe Grogan said it was important to point out it was the firm itself that first brought the matter to the regulator. This was confirmed by the regulator, which said the firm co-operated with its examination. The matter is now closed.

Mr Grogan there was "no financial implication at all" arising from the matter. "Most important of all, I can assure our customers, as confirmed by the financial regulator's statement, that there was no loss to them or gain to Marsh Ireland Limited as a result of the breaches," he said.

Mr Grogan said there was a "strong paper trail of all transactions".