More than 30 Irish jobs are to be lost after Swiss company La Mobilière moved to close its digital insurance operation in Dublin on Tuesday.
The group founded the Dublin-based insurtech Companjon in 2020 with the aim of opening a new line of business and gaining insights into the behaviour of customers and partners in the digital insurance business.
It designs, builds, and underwrites protection for global online businesses seeking to enhance their existing customer offerings. It specialises in embedded insurance that’s fully digital.
La Mobilière said the decision was taken following a review and the development of a new corporate strategy as the company pivots to a stronger focus on its core insurance and pensions business in Switzerland.
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The company said the decision “will have a significant impact” on the approximately 60 employees at Companjon, of which 34 are based in Ireland with the others across Europe. The group began a consultation process with staff on Tuesday.
La Mobilière chief executive Michèle Rodoni said “further development and scaling of this business area is not in line with our strategic focus on the core business in Switzerland”.
The existing embedded insurance policies, the “vast majority” of which have short term liabilities, will be run off.
Companjon said it will work closely with its business partners and the regulatory authorities following the decision. It said the consultation with its employees and business partners will determine the specific timelines of the run-off.
A third households and businesses in Switzerland are insured by La Mobilière. Active in all lines of insurance, it had an annual premium volume of around 4.9 billion swiss francs (€5.3 billion) at the end of last year.
It has 80 agencies with their own claims service at about 160 locations, serving about 2.3 million customers. It also has 6,600 employees in its home markets of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as 350 trainees.
Founded as a co-operative in 1826, La Mobilière is Switzerland’s oldest private insurance company.
