LIBERTY INSURANCE, the former Quinn-direct business, wrote premiums of $248m (€225m) gross last year, less than a quarter of Quinn’s peak premiums of more than €1bn.
New figures from Liberty’s parent, Boston-based Liberty Mutual, show its Irish premiums slid from €283m in 2014 and it now ranks in eighth place in the market. The company last year offloaded a British motor insurance unit that was run from Ireland and shed 270 staff. Liberty Mutual said its overall results for 2015 were affected “by several developments in Ireland”, including restructuring costs and underwriting changes. Net profit at the group dropped to $514m last year, from $1.8bn in 2014. Liberty has flagged that it does not expect to make a profit in Ireland until next year.
It bought the Quinn trading business for €200m after administrators were appointed to the company in 2010, but last year sold the UK motor unit to Chaucer Insurance Services and laid off staff in Dublin, Cavan and Fermanagh.
A call centre in Enniskillen, employing a further 210 people, is being transferred to a new operator. David Long, the chief executive of Liberty Mutual, a GAA sponsor, was paid $15.7m last year, up from $13.9m in 2014.