UK insurer North P&I has secured post-Brexit authorisation to trade in Ireland.

The Central Bank of Ireland will allow its subsidiary North of England P&I DAC to operate as a non-life insurance business, whether the UK leaves the European Union on 29 March or not.

This guards it against the expected loss of existing EU financial services ‘passporting’ rights after Brexit.

From 20 February, members and policyholders with an EEA (European Economic Area) place of management will be insured by North of England P&I DAC and all documentation for EEA insurance business (including certificates of entry and blue cards) will be issued and administered by that company.

This will apply to all classes of business previously underwritten by North and its subsidiary Sunderland Marine, including P&I, FD&D and Hull.

Members and policyholders with a non-EEA place of management will continue to be insured by North and Sunderland Marine.

Pratap Shirke is chairman of the Irish unit, with Paul Jennings and David Bruce as executive directors.

Bruce is also CEO and was previously the club's group financial controller.

Recruitment for support roles within the office is underway and a total of eight people will be based in Dublin when the office reaches its full staff complement sometime in mid-2019.

Jennings, North’s CEO, said: “North has opened and staffed this new office in Dublin to ensure that North’s members, particularly those whose ships have their place of management within the EEA, can continue to trade with confidence after Brexit on 29 March with no change to the excellent service levels currently delivered by our teams across the Club.

"As the first UK-based P&I Club to confirm its post-Brexit trading arrangements, I am confident that this new subsidiary will continue to build upon our long tradition of delivering excellent service to our members around the world."#

TradeWinds reported back in 2017 that the North looked set to move to Dublin.

Its preference for Ireland came as a surprise as there were better flight connections from its Newcastle base to Amsterdam than to the Irish capital.