The Irish subsidiary of global reinsurance giant Swiss Re, Swiss Re Ireland is to close down after the group decided to go into voluntary liquidation, with estimated surplus assets of GBP95.7 million, the Financial Times has reported.
The publication revealed that the liquidation process will be headed up by Michael Sargent, of Michael Sargent and Co. It also added that the latest accounts filed for the company were for the year 2005, which indicated that the group generated a profit before tax of GBP27 million. Furthermore, the accounts filed last year also indicate that the Irish subsidiary repatriated dividends totaling GBP150 million to Swiss Re in 2005.
Swiss Re Ireland, which booked reinsurance contracts from Swiss Re’s operations across Europe, employed 16 members of staff in 2005, the Financial Times revealed.
According to the news site, Swiss Re said that restructuring its organization could save the group up to GBP310 million by creating three new legal entities in Luxembourg as risk carriers for the majority of its reinsurance and insurance business in Europe, allowing a significant simplification of its legal structure.
The new legal structure will allow more efficient capital management, administration and reporting, said Henner Alms, a Swiss Re official, as cited by Ireland.com. It will improve the alignment of regulatory and economic capital requirements.