Quinn to be back in profit next year, says new boss

The new chief executive of Quinn Insurance has said he hopes to return the business in the Republic to profitability in 2012 and regain some of the customers lost during its 18-month administration process.

Liberty Insurance chief executive Pat O’Brien, whose company is the new parent entity in Ireland for Quinn Insurance and Quinn Direct, said in an interview with the Irish Times, the company would be lossmaking this year but that it would return to profit next year.

According to the Times, he said: “We would expect to make a profit in 2012.”

O’Brien estimated that premium income would be about €200m this year, down about 40% from when the joint administrators were appointed by the financial regulator in April 2010.

In the Times interview, he said Quinn had lost about 35% of its insurance business in the Republic during the administration process with the commercial business experiencing a 60 to 70% drop.

O’Brien said Liberty’s existing small commercial business in Dublin would work closely with the acquired Quinn operations.

He added that Liberty would look to broaden Quinn Insurance’s range of  products to kidnap and ransom, environmental, marine and other niche products. And he said the company would broaden its exposure in motor beyond its traditional focus on young drivers.

“We want to broaden out the appeal of the brand, which we feel can be mass market,” he said, adding that the “biggest gap” at Quinn Insurance was on the technical side, citing the absence of an actuarial function in the company.

“That’s something we’re addressing. We’re in the process of recruiting an actuarial team,” he said.

The High Court approved Liberty’s acquisition of Quinn’s Irish business last Friday. The US company will also manage Quinn’s business in the UK.