Travelers exits private motor market

Travelers Insurance has announced it exit the private motor market in Ireland from October.

The firm, which is currently consulting with employees over redundancies, said it remained committed to the commercial insurance market. It also said that it hoped to redeploy a number of affected staff elsewhere.

The company refused to confirm how many employees would be affected by today's decision or the number of affected customer accounts.

The insurer said its decision "was driven by the current and prospective dynamics of the private motor insurance in Ireland as well as a desire to focus the company’s attention and investment on the commercial insurance business".

In addition to offering motor insurance polices the company also provides a range of property and liability covers for businesses.

Ireland was the only European territory in which the company wrote private motor insurance. It continues to offer motor insurance in the US,  where it wrote the first ever private policy there in 1897.

Travelers, which began operating in Ireland in 1995, said it would work closely with its brokers to minimise disruption to current customers.

"Travelers’ commitment to superior customer service will continue as regards all impacted insurance policies and customers during the transition," the company said.

Travelers, which also has operations in the US, Canada and the UK, was established in 1853. It has more than 30,000 employees worldwide and generated revenues of approximately $25 billion in 2010.

The Fortune 500 company is currently the third largest property-casualty insurer in the US and is the only insurer listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index.