Hibernian Aviva, Ireland’s largest insurance group has completed its planned name change to Aviva as part of Aviva plc’s global strategy to grow and transform its business. Aviva’s heritage in Ireland began over 100 years ago with the foundation of the Hibernian Fire & General Insurance Company and today the company has over 1.2 million general insurance, life & pensions and health insurance customers in Ireland.
Aviva is Ireland’s market leader in general insurance, providing motor cover to one in every five motorists on Irish roads and commercial insurance to one in three small and medium businesses. Over 250,000 people have chosen Aviva as their health insurance partner and in the Life & Pensions sector Aviva provides access to the widest choice of funds in the market through our partners BlackRock, Merrion Investment Managers and Aviva Investors.
This change to Aviva is part of Aviva’s strategy of uniting the business behind one strong worldwide brand. The international savings, investments and insurance group is the world’s fifth largest insurance group with 50 million customers and already trades as Aviva in most of its 27 markets across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
Jim Dowdall, recently appointed chief executive of Aviva in Ireland, says that being part of a global group means the company has the resources and expertise to further strengthen its market leading position in Ireland’s Life and Pensions and Insurance markets.
“We are a business with a heritage in innovation and customer service. Our intention is to continue to be here for our customers for the next 100 years by drawing on the expertise and resources of Aviva as we grow our business in Ireland for the future.
“We are firmly committed to continuing to lead the Irish insurance market with unrivalled customer service and the provision of best value, high quality insurance products right across our portfolio,” added Jim.
Jim Dowdall says that Aviva Ireland is already introducing new initiatives that demonstrate the company’s ability to deliver high quality value insurance to Irish consumers.
“We have just introduced a new year-long campaign, ‘New Parent Free Life Cover’ which provides €10,000 worth of free life cover for all new parents up until their child’s first birthday. This is to encourage consumers to consider the need for life assurance. Currently over 40% of Irish adults don’t have any cover to protect their families from unnecessary financial risk in the event of accident or injury.
“Aviva also continues to offer discounted prices for all health insurance customers who switch or renew their health insurance with us until the end of January.”
Jim Dowdall continued: “We also had the scale and expertise to respond faster than any other insurer to the recent unprecedented flooding in Ireland, leading the industry by introducing an advance claim payment scheme. We are now working with our residential and commercial customers to get them back on their feet as quickly as possible.”
This final step from Hibernian to Aviva follows an extensive campaign that saw the company become Hibernian Aviva in January 2009. In 2009 Aviva also announced a ten-year partnership with the IRFU and FAI in the soon to be opened Aviva Stadium, investing in this landmark infrastructure and supporting IRFU and FAI investment in grassroots sports programmes throughout the country.
In conclusion, Jim Dowdall said: “For the last 100 years, we have led the Irish insurance market by offering insurance products that provide peace of mind and by delivering excellent customer service. Nine out of 10 consumers recognise and trust that Aviva can meet all of their insurance needs and I am confident that Aviva in Ireland will continue to build on this track record in 2010 and the years ahead.”
