Brexit Prompts NI Insurance Firm To Set Up In Dublin

A Coleraine based insurance firm is to reroute £60 million of business to Dublin in a bid to Brexit-proof its operations.

MCL InsureTech has relocated operations to Swords, Dublin after 10 years of processing at it's Co L'Derry base.

The company is behind popular insurance brands Its4Women, 25plus and Boxymo and took the decision amid continued uncertainty around the UK's exit from the EU.

The move will enable it to maintain access to 500 million potential customers in the Single Market and easily manage its Irish customer-base without the restriction of any Brexit-induced regulations.

It will create 40 new roles and an investment of £3 million in the Irish economy.

MCL InsureTech has tripled its staff numbers to 102 in the past 10 years. Those employees will continue working at the Co. Londonderry base, which will trade as normal following the opening of the Swords office. No job losses in Northern Ireland are expected at present.

The move follows a successful application for regulation by the Central Bank of Ireland which allows its new Swords centre to become its own Irish entity, operating separately from the northern base.

At present, the firm services around €70m of gross written premium and 90,000 customers in Ireland. That business was originally processed at its Co. Londonderry base but the firm is keen to safeguard that trade in the event of a hard or soft exit according to Managing Director, Gary McClarty.

"The threat of a hard Brexit has forced us to set a mechanism in place to protect our EU business and in this case it has resulted in the launch of a new Irish entity based in Dublin and unfortunately the loss of €70m worth of business to the Northern Ireland economy," Mr McClarty said.

"Unfortunately, after Brexit, when the UK becomes in effect a third country, any passporting rules that NI was privy to will no longer apply."

Any new business and products for the larger European markets will now be routed through the new Swords base.

Mr McClarty continued: "Now that we are authorised by the Central Bank there are exciting times ahead for our business in the South. We will be launching a range of new products and services that will benefit the Swords and wider area in terms of employment for now and in years to come."

MCL InsureTech has serviced the whole of Ireland for the past decade from its Coleraine base. It prides itself on being one of the first bespoke online car insurance firms in the Irish market with its brand its4women.ie and following its success the company introduced the 25plus.ie brand, which offers online home, car, travel, health and property insurance for the over 25s.

In 2013 it launched its telematics brand, Boxymo.ie, which rewards better driving and offers younger drivers more competitive insurance.

Its4women was a product originally offered to drivers in the South but earlier last year MCL InsureTech expanded to offer access to NI female drivers with an aim to secure up to 10% of the NI car insurance market within the next five years.

To hit that target the company also has plans to create new roles and invest in its IT and contact centre business.

MCL InsureTech also owns a software programming company DotSys Ltd which provides financial software solutions to the financial services industry.



(JG/CM)