Liberty Insurance have today announced that they are making an exit from the Great Britain personal general insurance market and that they will be seeking a strategic review of its operating model in Ireland. 
 
This will result in 270 voluntary led redundancies in Ireland, where the business was being serviced from. 
 
In a statement, Liberty Insurance said that the business had been heavily loss making, leaving Liberty with no option but to exit the UK retail market.
 
The company will now focus on the Republic of Ireland market and plans to transfer the customer management of its Northern Ireland policies on renewal to Hughes Insurance Services Limited while seeking a buyer for the renewal rights to its GB policies.

Following this decision, the company today informed employees that it is commencing a process that will seek 270 voluntary led redundancies.

In addition, the company announced plans to transfer its contact centre in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh and 210 employees to a 3rd party company that specialises in customer management, a move which could potentially lead to further growth opportunities for the centre.  
 
It is anticipated the redundancies will take effect over the next 18 months. While the final numbers are uncertain until the conclusion of the process, it is expected that there could be approximately 135 redundancies in Dublin, 115 in Cavan and 20 in Enniskillen.
 
Chief Executive at Liberty Insurance, Tom McIlduff said, "We have achieved a lot in our first few years in Ireland, having established a strong brand and grown our distribution network. However, the market is challenging and we have been loss making with an uncompetitive cost base.

Withdrawing from the Great Britain market, focusing on Ireland and streamlining our operating model will enable us to strengthen our long term competitive position in Ireland in order to service our customers and brokers better."

Source: www.businessworld.ie