Here are some examples of insurer company failure:

Insurance company failures in which operational risk played a significant role include:

• The near-collapse of Equitable Life Insurance Society in the UK, which resulted from of a culture of manipulation and concealment, where the insurer failed to communicate details of its finances to policyholders or regulators.

• The failure of HIH Insurance, which resulted from the dissemination of false information, money being obtained by false or misleading statements and intentional dishonesty).

• American International Group (AIG) and Marsh, where the CEOs were forced from office following allegations of bid-rigging. Bid rigging, which involves two or more competitors arranging non-competitive bids, is illegal in most countries.

• Delta Lloyd, Fortis ASR and Nationale Nederlanden (the Netherlands) agreed to compensate holders of unit-linked insurance policies for the lack of transparency in the product cost structures.

From: RiskFriends WebBlog

Some high-profile operational risk failures in the banking sector e.g. AIB, Barings or Sumitomo, shows that events could have been avoided or discovered in an early stage if a sound and integrated risk management framework had been practiced.