The Central Bank of Ireland has granted licence for Travelers Europe to open a new insurance subsidiary in the country.
Image: The Central Bank of Ireland’s new headquarters building in Dublin. Photo: Courtesy of William Murphy/Wikipedia.org.
Travelers Insurance Designated Activity Company (Travelers Insurance DAC) will be based on Dublin. It will provide uninterrupted services to its customers, broking partners in Ireland and across Europe when the UK formally secedes from European Union.
Travelers Europe has been operating in Irish general insurance market for more than 20 years and will use its existing branch resources for its subsidiary, which will be led by CEO James Liston.
The company’s UK-based operations including general insurance business (Travelers Insurance Company) and its Lloyd’s syndicate, will continue to operate under the existing UK licences.
Travelers Europe CEO Matthew Wilson said: “During the Brexit negotiations, our priority has been to ensure that we are positioned to continue meeting the needs of our policyholders who have assets and business across Europe.
“The authorisation of our subsidiary means it will be business as usual for our customers and brokers, and we will continue to deliver the expertise they have come to expect from Travelers.”
The New York-based insurance company stated that wherever necessary, businesses will be transferred from Travelers Insurance to Travelers Insurance DAC in accordance with current requirements to ensure seamless transition for customers and brokers. The new company is expected to begin writing business by the end of March this year.
Earlier this month, the company partnered with ASQ Underwriting to offer transactional risk insurance in the US, as private equity investors are using insurance to mitigate deal risk and compete for acquisition opportunities.
As part of this agreement, ASQ Underwriting will underwrite transactional risk policies for Travelers, with an initial gross capacity of $50m per transaction. Travelers will manage the claims process in close coordination with ASQ Underwriting.
Travelers stated that transactional risk insurance can cover risks related to mergers and acquisitions including representations and warranties insurance, tax liability insurance and contingent liability insurance. Such policies are claimed to reduce the funds needed to be held in escrow and offer risk transfer options.