Quinn Direct name dies as new owners unveil Liberty Insurance
PA
THE Quinn Direct name will be consigned to history today when the insurer's new owners unveil a 'Liberty Insurance' identity.
The Irish Independent understands that staff at the Cavan insurer were briefed on the impending name change yesterday, ahead of the imminent announcement.
Details of the rebrand are expected to be revealed today and a major advertising campaign will then follow.
Quinn Direct was taken over by the US insurance giant Liberty Mutual and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (formerly Anglo Irish Bank) in November.
Since then, the Quinn name has come down from the insurer's landmark offices in Cavan and Blanchardstown, Dublin, but details of a rebrand have been kept under wraps.
Premiums
Management is now moving forward to transition to a new 'Liberty Insurance' brand to play on the strength that the insurer has as part of massive international group.
Although Anglo and Liberty are joint owners of the new venture, Liberty is spearheading its management and has installed its executive Pat O'Brien to head up the operation. Soon after he was appointed, Mr O'Brien predicted that the insurer would make a profit in 2012 and vowed to get back some of the commercial accounts that left Quinn during its period of administration.
The insurer's figures for 2011 have not yet been released, but interim data obtained by this newspaper shows a significant deterioration in premium income in the first seven months of the year.
Mr O'Brien has spoken of plans to broaden Quinn's breadth of products by targeting a wider range of customers.
- Laura Noonan
Originally published in
