Insurers, banks and other financial services companies have been predicted to downsize their London staff as they prepare for the UK’s exit from the European Union. One major industry player, however, may not make such a move.
Earlier this month, insurance giant
AIG announced that it will locate a company in Luxembourg to keep its access to the European single market post-Brexit. From 2019, the insurer will keep its subsidiary in London to write UK business and have another in Luxembourg to write business for the EEA and Switzerland.
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AIG had said that the UK will remain a core market and will continue to support European operations. The company also revealed that its post-Brexit plan would not lead to job losses in the UK.
“We don’t anticipate any redundancies in the UK or elsewhere as a result of this restructuring,” Nicola Ratchford, AIG Europe head of communications, told Insurance Business.
Ratchford previously told
Bloomberg that AIG has a few employees already in Luxembourg. She said there might be leadership changes in Europe, but it is too soon to know how many will move, or to comment on real estate decisions.
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According to the news agency, AIG has over 2,000 employees based in London and has already been cutting staff there and in other cities as part of a separate cost-cutting drive unrelated to Brexit.
AIG’s proposed restructure in Europe is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019. By that time, the insurer will already have a replacement for Peter Hancock, who resigned earlier this month.
“Luxembourg, a founding member of the European Union, offers us a secure location in a stable economy with an experienced and well-respected regulator in continental Europe close to many of our major markets,” said AIG chief executive Anthony Baldwin.
“This is a decisive move that ensures AIG is positioned for whatever form the UK’s exit from the EU ultimately takes,” he also said.
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