An Post subsidiary, One Direct, to take over Aviva Branch business
22 May 2012
Recently Aviva engaged in a tender process for the sale of its general insurance branch network business. Following a detailed evaluation of all the responses to the tender, One Direct has been selected as the preferred partner for Aviva’s Personal Lines book of business (motor and home).
One Direct is a wholly owned subsidiary of An Post which already sells a broad range of general insurance products, with Private Motor and Home being underwritten by Aviva. Established in 1999, One Direct employs 102 people at its base in Athlone.
The next phase of the process, involving due diligence and legal agreements will take a number of weeks and the proposed transfer is expected to be complete by
mid-September. Both One Direct and Aviva will work together to ensure a smooth transition of this business.
The proposed agreement involves the transfer, to One Direct, of 59 Aviva staff roles under Transfer of Undertakings regulations (TUPE). It is expected that some of these roles will be located in Post Offices near current Aviva branches. These staff will provide a dedicated on-the-ground insurance sales service for Aviva customers transferring to One Direct as well as for An Post customers. A referral service will also be provided across the Post Office retail network.
The agreement also involves One Direct taking over a number of existing Aviva branch premises in the Dublin area, subject to landlord approval.
Welcoming today’s announcement the Chief Executive of An Post, Mr Donal Connell, said: “An Post’s retail network is the largest in the country. We provide unparalleled geographical reach, with over 1.7m customers visiting a local post office each week. We continue to grow the suite of products and services available to our customers; recent examples being the addition of Foreign Exchange and our postfone mobile phone service. This is a very positive development for One Direct and for An Post and is fully in line with our stated strategy of developing new, relevant, value-for-money income streams.”
