Zurich Life Ireland to create 50 jobs

PENSIONS and life assurance specialist Zurich Life Ireland is to create 50 jobs by the end of the year.

The positions will come about through the establishment of a cross-border “manufacturing and servicing hub” aimed at administering life products into the British and mainland European markets.

In what the company called good news for the business and for the Irish economy, as a whole, 25 of the jobs – mainly in IT and professional services – have already been filled, with the rest of the new employees due to be taken on by year end.

Initially, products (term insurance and other non-pension products) will be aimed at the British and Italian markets, but the geographical scope is expected to expand in due course.

The Irish arm of the Zurich Life Assurance group (which formerly went under the Eagle Star name) yesterday reported strong results for the first half of the year, with market share in Ireland rising by 70% to 17% (against a 40% decline in the total life and pensions market here) and new business levels rising by 3%, on a year-on-year basis, to €95.1 million.

New business from the sale of protection products rose by 19% on a year-on-year basis and continued growth was evident for the company in the pensions market, where it leads the way with a 36% share – driven by PRSA (personal retirement savings accounts) sales.

Zurich Ireland chief executive, Michael Brennan called the company’s first half performance a set of “strong results in a very challenging market”.

He added: “We are significantly outperforming in market share growth across all product segments. This is a clear illustration of the extent of the flight to quality that has taken place over the last 12 months.”

Mr Brennan remained confident that Zurich Ireland is “particularly well-placed” in the market to continue to outperform its main competitors.