South African insurer Outsurance‘s fledgling Irish business plans to hire a further 100 staff in the next 12 months, bringing its total workforce to 250 as it gains traction in the market.
The announcement comes as Outsurance Ireland marks its first year in operation, focusing on motor and home coverage.
The company claims that motorists who have switched to the firm have saved an average of €97 on their car insurance in the past year, based on its in-house data.
Outsurance Ireland chief executive Peter Broome declined to comment on the level of premiums the company secured in its first year – or on underwriting targets. The company previously said that it expects to invest €160 million developing the Irish business in its first three years in operation.
“I feel strongly that our success is based not only on our great value proposition, but also the customer-first approach and human interaction, which is central to the Outsurance experience,” he said. “You’ll speak to a person – not a bot – when you call us at Outsurance and we have a strong record of answering more than 90 per cent of calls within 20 seconds.”
Outsurance is among several companies that have moved recently to get into the Irish market following a series of reforms aimed at reducing volatility and coverage costs in a historically highly volatile market even by the cyclical nature of insurance internationally.
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Italian insurance giant Generali last year bought Liberty Mutual’s businesses in Ireland, Spain and Portugal in a deal worth €2.3 billion.
It marked a return by the Italian group to the Irish general insurance market more than two decades after it closed its Dublin office, which had been writing small amounts of property and casualty business as well as commercial insurance at the time.
Fintech Revolut entered the car insurance market in 2023 in partnership with US-based AIG.
