A business group yesterday called on Irish regulators to ban insurers from paying extra commissions to brokers in return for selling high volumes of expensive cover to clients.

Mr Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (ISME) association said yesterday that the evidence suggested that Irish brokers took extra or "override" payments from some insurers for favouring their products over those offered by competitors.

"This practice has been commonplace with a number of brokers making considerable profits on the back of their customers," he said.

Earlier this year, the Competition Authority revealed that a number of brokers were charging exorbitant and undisclosed fees to their clients.

The Competition Authority is due to publish the final report of its study of the insurance industry before the end of the year, The Irish Times understands.

It published an interim report earlier this year which highlighted the fact that there appeared to be little competition between brokers. As part of the study, the authority has queried the level of override payments that insurers are making to brokers.

Unless they are tied agents - that is, they act for just one insurance company - brokers are supposed to act in the best interests of their clients.