Fears mount for 170 jobs at insurance services firm

There are fears for the future of 170 jobs at the Cork branch of a global insurance services provider.

Assurant Solutions staff were yesterday called to a meeting with management at which they were told the company was reviewing its European operations and that “it is possible” that could lead to the closure of its operation on the Model Farm Rd in Cork.

In October, the company announced it had bought Lifestyle Services Group (LSG), a British mobile-phone insurance provider for £107m (€127m).

Now it wants to consolidate its European headquarters management team, customer care, and support functions in LSG’s location in Crewe.

Assurant’s 70 staff in Windsor in England would also be impacted.

Chris Harrison, president of Assurant Solutions Europe, who is believed to have broken the news to the staff in Cork, said: “We operate in a dynamic and competitive marketplace and so it is important that we remain an efficient and agile organisation to compete effectively.

“We are conducting this strategic review to realise the benefits of the acquisition of Lifestyle Services Group and create an organisational structure designed to serve our customers in a more effective and sustainable manner.”

He said the company’s priority was to ensure staff affected by its “proposal” were treated with dignity and respect throughout the process.

The location in Cork, which deals with the company’s mobile-phone insurance services, has been in operation since the late 1990s.

When it announced its takeover of LSG, the company said that, globally, it had “approximately $29bn (€21bn) in assets and $8bn in annual revenue”, and employed 14,500 employees worldwide.