Insurance group RSA has stated that it is 'confident' that a £200m black hole in its accounts identified in November 2013 was down to 'isolated' financial and claims irregularities at its operations in Ireland.

The insurance giant's statement comes as PwC is due to hand over its report later today on its independent investigation into the financial and regulatory reporting processes and controls within RSA's Irish business and the group oversight of these, alongside further assurance reviews, at a meeting with the RSA board.

The accounting firm is expected to say that the shortfall occurred despite strict governance controls being in place.

RSA has confirmed that the impact of claims and financial irregularities and the reserve review in Ireland are put at £72m and £128m respectively. This total of £200m is the same as previously announced and the company has said it does not expect to take further writedowns related to the incident.

The discovery of the accounting irregularities contributed to RSA delivering three profit warnings in six weeks in the run-up to Christmas, and resulted in the resignation of group chief executive Simon Lee.

The three executives who ran the Irish business, CEO Philip Smith, CFO Rory O'Connor and claims director Peter Burke, were all suspended at the time the problems were uncovered and Smith subsequently resigned. Irish police and the Central Bank of Ireland set up investigations but no formal action has been taken.