Eight regional offices to close

NIG has announced plans to restructure the business and cut jobs at some of its regional offices.

As part of its restructuring plan, its 18 UK commercial offices will be reduced to 10.

Nigel Pearce, managing director of NIG said: “NIG is a strong business and these proposals should allow it to enjoy significant and profitable growth over the next few years and reinforces our commitment to the broker channel. Its new business model will mean that it is even more efficient, with a stronger underwriting capability and improved service levels.

“The proposals announced today, would sadly result in some job losses and this is a regrettable, but necessary, consequence of our plans to reposition the business for future growth."

He added: “All those brokers who place business with us will enjoy an even better level of on-the-ground contact from company representatives, but they should also see an improvement in our response time to their requests.”

NIG, which currently employs 900 staff, is closing offices in Cardiff, Chelmsford, Exeter, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Reading and Redhill.

If the proposal is implemented in its current form, all of NIG’s package business will now be underwritten and serviced from its office in Peterborough. Its manually underwritten business will be managed from nine locations, which are Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Gloucester, Leeds, London, Maidstone, Manchester and Watford.

NIG said staff at its eight other offices will be offered the opportunity to apply for other vacancies within the whole of the RBS Group or in certain circumstances leave on a voluntary basis. "Where all procedures and voluntary measures have been implemented it may be necessary to consider compulsory redundancies as a last resort," said the company.

NIG said it intends to enhance its service to brokers and customers, including:

  • Larger teams of underwriters in fewer locations and investment in new underwriting skills.
  • Greater efficiency enabling NIG to reduce its operational costs and help it maintain and improve on its competitive position.
  • Better relationship management, making a significant investment in the recruitment and training of relationship managers.
  • Product development placing a greater focus on enhancing existing products and developing new ones. It plans to launch a number of new offerings over the next 12 months.

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