US giant to close Irish motor insurance arm

US INSURANCE company Travelers, which has been operating in Ireland since 1995, has announced it is to pull out of the Irish private motor insurance business.

The company, whose Irish base is in Harcourt Street in Dublin, has declined to confirm how many employees or customers will be affected by the move.

The company may redeploy affected staff to other parts of the business. In a statement, the company says its commercial business is unaffected.

The US insurance giant, which was among the bidders for Quinn Insurance, was launched in Ireland in 1995 and began writing general and specialist, motor insurance 10 years later. Ireland was the only country in Europe in which Travelers was involved in the motor insurance business. It has been writing motor insurance in the US since 1897.

According to the company, the decision “was driven by the current and prospective dynamics of the private motor insurance in Ireland as well as a desire to focus the company’s attention and investment on the commercial insurance business”.

Travelers was the main underwriter for online insurer 123.ie which was bought by RSA just over a year ago.

According to the latest financial results from Travelers, net written premiums decreased by 1 per cent in the second quarter of 2011 due to the termination of “an exclusive relationship with a distribution partner in Ireland during the fourth quarter 2010”.