FEATURE | Aviva Europe
The changing
face of aviva
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With insurance company Hibernian now fully rebranded to Aviva, the company’s plans for a pan-European approach are becoming a Dublin-
based reality, writes RURAIDH CONLON O’REILLY.
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The new Aviva Stadium was a big part of the company’s rebranding exercise.
AS AVIVA CONSOLIDATES most of its
European operations under one roof in Dublin, the insurer is heavily on the minds of many sports fans and anyone affected by the winter’s flooding and freezing.
For the company, two major changes are afoot. Firstly, there’s a rebranding exercise going on that makes building the new Lansdowne Road look modest. Second on the list is the move of European functions to Ireland – overall it’s “a good news story for the country, particularly given our difficult financial environment,” said a relieved IDA when the move was announced.
Trouble is, it was hardly a news story at all. With little in the way of an official announcement last year, details have been thin on the ground, even if it is a major change. In-house, the strategy is known as a “quantum leap”.
48 InBusiness May 10
TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE
Stuart Purdy is now Product and Investment Management Director at Aviva Europe, but until recently, he was familiar to the Irish business community as CEO of Hibernian Aviva – and thus in control during the rebranding process. The new structure – a pan-European approach to business – is an even bigger challenge, and is nothing less than revolutionary for the company. “It’s a transformational change in how we try to do business and exercise our business, how we approach the scale of our markets and also the scale of our ambitions,” says Purdy. “Europe is going to grow every bit as much as Asia as a life insurance market in the next five years. We are the biggest life insurance provider in Europe already, and we have significant ambitions for general insurance and health insurance. The quantum leap brings all that together.”
The plan is to centralise European operations in Aviva’s existing set-up on Hatch St, just off Harcourt St in Dublin 2. Sharing the same building, IT and systems infrastructure, the company’s existing Irish staff will benefit from European experience, while the new endeavour will grow from roots already in the ground. The synergy will provide cost savings and enable the company to offer a simplified range of products. “Locating our two pan-European insurance companies here is a real commitment to the Irish market and to the quality of the people we’ve had here in the Aviva business in Ireland for over 100 years,” Purdy insists. “I also think it’s a sign of our confidence. While we may have our challenges to face at the moment, the fundamental principles of our business remain the same, and therefore Ireland is a very attractive place to base our pan-European business in. All going well, I would hope to be
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