Insurer to merge Kells and Trim offices

The FBD insurance group offices in Kells and Trim are to close and a new office for the company established in Navan as part of a major revamp which will see its office network throughout the country reduced from 47 to 34 offices. The announcement, made yesterday (Tuesday), will affect at least some of the 350 workers in the 13 offices set for closure. No details of the effects on the staff of its Meath offices were available as we went to press. FBD said that it was realigning its activities in line with customer needs. A detailed review of the group"s operations has been in progress over a number of months. 'It was initiated as a result of substantial changes in the way customers are buying insurance, with over 70 per cent of car and home insurance customers now using the telephone or internet. The review also set out to underpin the strength of the company through increased efficiencies,' a spokesperson said. FBD said it was its intention to realign its local office network, reducing the number from 47 to 34 by merging the activities of certain offices. The resulting reduction in staff numbers is to be achieved through a voluntary severance programme, the company said. It said that, in Meath, 'the FBD offices in Kells and Trim will merge with Navan as the county base'. The spokesperson was unable to give the location of the proposed new office in Navan. The spokesperson added: 'After these changes, FBD will continue to have the largest local office network of any insurer around the country. Local offices will focus on selling to ands servicing the needs of farming and commercial customers. Personal lines customers, primarily motor and home insurance, will be serviced by their support centre in Mullingar. FBD has made substantial investments in both its internet offering and the support centre where 160 new jobs have been created since February 2007. Certain administrative and processing tasks will also be centralised.' FBD chief executive officer Andrew Langford said that FBD had grown its market share in each of the last seven years and was now the third largest insurer in Ireland with policy counts doubling in the same period. The company had continued to perform solidly in difficult market conditions and was determined to meet the changing needs of customers. Changing customer behaviour meant that they were now less likely to visit the local offices and the company was now providing them with the channels they now wished to use, he said. The Unite trade union, which represents 330 of the 350 staff, is to meet management and staff over the next two weeks to discuss the company"s announcement. The union will hold four regional meetings with staff in Cavan, Cork, Carlow and Castlebar and meetings will be held later with management.