The proposed departure of Zurich Insurance Plc (ZIP) from Ireland comes following a review of the company structure in Europe, resulting in the commercial decision to re-locate ZIP’s European Headquarters to Germany, which is closer to its key markets.
My first thoughts are with the staff affected by this announcement. I understand that a consultation period is underway, and I expect to hear from the company after its initial consultation meeting with staff. I am advised that affected staff will be offered other opportunities within the Zurich Group and that no redundancies are expected to take effect before 2024.While ZIP’s departure is disappointing, what is welcome is Zurich’s continued commitment to its wider operations here in Ireland. Zurich Group employs approximately 1,400 other people across its domestic operations and in its other IDA-support client, Zurich Incorporated, which provides technology services to the wider Zurich group. It is also welcome that the separate entity Zurich Ireland remains committed to the Irish market with plans to continue to grow and invest in here, and that domestic policyholders will be unaffected by ZIP's announcement.
This Government remains committed to promoting Ireland as a financial services hub, under the updated Ireland for Finance strategy, which was launched in October. Its vision is for Ireland to continue to be a premier location of choice for specialist international financial services.
Ireland is one of the most important insurance centres in the European Union, and many of the largest insurance companies in the world use Ireland as their European Headquarters from which to write insurance across the region and beyond.
Direct employment in the sector is at its highest levels with over 52,000 people working in a diverse array of firms in insurance, banking and investment management, as well as the many thousands working in the provision of highly skilled services that support the sector in legal, audit and accounting firms.
Notwithstanding this announcement, the factors that have supported the growth of this industry in Ireland prevail, namely an educated workforce with a large number of skilled insurance professionals; access to the EU market for the cross-border selling of insurance; a stable business environment; a track record of success; and the necessary support infrastructure to enable the sector to thrive.
IDA Ireland works tirelessly to win new investments into Ireland from insurers and from other sectors, and it continues to engage with companies once established to support them to evolve and to thrive in Ireland. The agency continues to be very successful in these efforts with year-on-year employment growth recorded in the insurance sector, alongside the wider IFS industry.
