Ireland’s An Post to take over Aviva insurance branches

An Post has said its banking subsidiary One Direct has signed a deal to potentially take over the branch business of insurance firm Aviva in Ireland. The Irish postal service said its financial services unit has been selected as preferred partner for Aviva’s Personal Lines business, which includes motor and home insurance retail products.

Athlone-based One Direct already sells a range of insurance products, with its private motor and home insurance products being underwritten by Aviva.

Selected as preferred partner in a tender process with Aviva, An Post said due diligence work and legal agreements are now set to take a number of weeks to finalise, but the proposed transfer of Aviva’s motor and home insurance branch business should be completed by mid-September.

Both One Direct and Aviva will work together to ensure a smooth transition of this business, the company said.

Around 59 Aviva staff are set to transfer to One Direct, with some of the staff set to move to 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, the Irish postal service said.

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.

An Post chief executive Donal Connell said: “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.”

Connell said his company was looking to continue growing its suite of retail products available for the 1.7m customers visiting the network’s post offices each week.

Recent new services at An Post post offices have included a foreign exchange service and the postfone mobile phone service.