Oliver Tattan, formerly CEO of Irish health insurer VHI and the founder of its smaller rival Vivas, has created Insurance Regulatory Capital (IRC), a business that will raise debt to finance mid-size European insurers, reports the Irish Independent. Mr Tattan said that he had identified up to 40 mid-sized insurers that could be interested in using debt to expand their balance sheets, without falling foul of Solvency II, the forthcoming new capital regime for insurers that will require insurers to align more closely their assets and liabilities. Mr Tattan claimed that "mid-sized insurers don't have a way of growing at the moment besides using their retained profits". IRC also has Stephen Loughman, former finance director at Vivas, and the insurer's former legal & regulatory director Maria Teresa Kelly Oroz on board. Mr Tattan said that IRC had begun raising funds.