UK insurer Equitable Life is considering setting up a European Union subsidiary in Dublin in order to continue serving Irish and German customers after Brexit, its chief executive said today.
Equitable Life manages life and pensions policies that are closed to new customers.
It has most of its 400,000 policyholders in Britain but also has a "few thousand" in Ireland and a similar number in Germany, its chief executive Chris Wiscarson told Reuters.
"We are having to make sure we have plans in place to deal with whatever comes out of the next couple of years," he said.
The firm would "probably" set up a regulated subsidiary in Dublin and use so-called passporting rights to manage policies for customers in Germany, but no decision had been made yet, he added.
Lloyd's of London and AIG are among a number of insurers to announce plans to set up EU subsidiaries, in the event that Britain loses access to the single market after Brexit.
Dublin, an early favourite for such bases, has lost out in several cases to centres such as Brussels and Luxembourg.
Equitable Life, which Wiscarson said has around 200 staff in total, would only employ a small number of staff in Dublin.
"In the great scheme of things, this is not a huge cost," he said.
The Bank of England has asked insurers and banks operating in Britain to outline their Brexit plans by mid-July.
The battle for Brexit business
Barclays has already settled on Dublin for its main hub inside the European Union after Brexit early in 2017.
The financial services firm is planning to add about 150 staff here if UK-based finance companies lose easy access to the trading bloc.
JP Morgan last month agreed to a deal to buy 200 Capital Dock in Dublin city centre as part of its expected plans to create up to 500 new jobs here.
They are joined by seven other companies choosing to relocate their operations to Ireland in the wake of Brexit, including fellow financial services firms Legg Mason and Citadel Securities.
Insurers Aviva, Beazley, and Legal & General will all open offices in Ireland, while UK-based pharmaceutical company Almac Group and legal services firm Pinsent Masons also said they would headquarter European operations in an Irish office.
