Liberty Insurance has reportedly slashed its pre-tax losses more than ten-fold this year after a slew of cost-cutting initiatives.
The Sunday Times has reported that the firm – formerly Quinn’s Irish insurance business – logged pre-tax losses at €4.9 million in 2016, from €69 million in 2015. Citing new accounts, the paper said Liberty employed an average of 472 staff last year, down from 833 in 2015, and had more small-scale redundancies this year. Meanwhile, gross written premiums dropped more than 18% to €209.3 million in 2016.
In 2015, the firm stopped offering private motor insurance in Britain. That same year, it transferred more than 200 call centre workers to a third-party provider and began the process of making 287 other staff redundant, the report added.
Liberty Mutual Group acquired the company in 2011. The deal saw a transfer of all existing Quinn Insurance employees. The parent firm has spent almost €300 million in buying the business and bolstering its solvency but has yet to record a bottom-line profit,
The Sunday Times reported.
Directors of the firm said they are “working towards achieving a sustainable profitable business model,” by focusing on personal insurance products and “refocusing” its commercial business.
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