If all goes as planned, British insurer and healthcare group Bupa will be back in Ireland – well, partially.
Bupa, which bid the Republic farewell more than a decade ago, has picked the UK neighbour as its Brexit destination. The move, however, involves a specific line of business and does not mean a market re-entry for its health insurance operation.
Referring to clients based in the European Economic Area, a spokesperson was quoted by The Irish Times as saying: “These customers have international private medical insurance (IPMI). To continue to serve these customers effectively after Brexit, we have applied to the Irish regulator for authorisation of a new insurance entity.”
According to the report, Bupa’s Central Bank of Ireland application relates solely to IPMI and travel services. It’s not clear how big of a team will run the proposed entity, the plan for which was first reported by Channel 4 News.
What used to be Bupa Ireland has since become Laya Healthcare, which is currently owned by AIG.
