MMC plans to hire 100 people at new Dublin innovation centre

The parent of benefits consultants Mercer has announced plans to hire 100 people at a new innovation centre in Dublin.

Marsh & McLennan is set to pull together its data and analytics operations across its four business units in the new centre. These include Mercer, insurance broker Marsh, management consultancy Oliver Wyman and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter.

The business will be headed by Marsh & McLennan's chief technology officer David Fike, who has recently relocated to Dublin to oversee its establishment.

Dublin won out over several rival locations to secure the latest investment, which will bring the group’s workforce in Ireland to 700, including 500 at Mercer.

Marsh & McLennan chief executive Daniel Glaser, said: "We are proud to launch the Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre in Dublin as part of our efforts to develop the next generation of data-driven technologies and analytics across our company."

Tom Geraghty, country head of Mercer and chairman of Marsh & McLennan Ireland said the group expected to hire between 25 and 30 people for the Innovation Centre by the end of this year.

“And we are not necessarily stuck at 100. If this was to really be successful and to be as we envision it to be, it could be much more than that into the future,”Mr Geraghty said.

He said Ireland’s talent base had been pivotal in Ireland winning the business, alongside and the Irish tax regime and the growing cluster of fintech and data businesses here. The innovation centre is a first worldwide for Marsh McLennan.

“There is a pretty strong commitment from the corporate to really get behind this and give it the right momentum and give it the right ingredients to be a success,” said Mr Geraghty.

“There is a lot of data, a lot of analytics and a lot of tech platforms that have been developed across our global org. MMC [Marsh & McLennan] wanted to locate and develop a innovation centre that really develops and deploys the next generation of tech, data and analytics and use that to in turn build best in class solutions for their client base.”

IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan, said the Marsh & McLennan investment "affirms Ireland's standing as a leading location for professional services companies to invest, innovate and transform through our highly skilled and talented workforce".

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said data analytics was a sector which the Government had targeted as part of its Action Plan for Jobs.