Travelers Personal Lines Consolidation Hits N.J., Mass., N.Y.
Travelers Personal Lines is consolidating some “non-customer facing” functions performed at two business centers — Fall River, Mass. and Marlton, N.J. , according to Sheila Trauernicht, spokesperson for the company. The work will be transferred to offices in Syracuse and Glens Falls, N.Y.
The personal lines unit is also consolidating certain business processing work from its nine centers across the country to three.
About 325 employees are being affected overall, although about 100 new openings will occur in Syracuse, Houston and Knoxville when the consolidation plan is completed.
Trauernich said the move is unrelated to the April 1 introduction of managed competition in the Massachusetts private passenger auto insurance market. Travelers of Massachusetts is a separate company with its own processing center in Norwood, which remains unaffected.
Also, the Marlton, N.J. office with 80 employees and Fall River, Mass. office with 365 will remain open for sales, marketing, financial and other customer operations, she told Insurance Journal.
Travelers Personal Lines has nine business centers across the country that employ about 2,000 people.
The consolidation also has no effect on the insurer’s commercial lines operations.
State Farm Pulls Back on Jersey Shore
State Farm Insurance Co. is telling some New Jersey shore customers that their home insurance policies will not be renewed. The insurer says it is trying to limit its exposure to catastrophic property loss and is dropping 2 percent of its customers over the next five years.
The plan was approved by the state Banking and Insurance Department.
Some property owners say that without State Farm, their only insurance option is the higher-priced Lloyd’s of London.
General Re Chief Brandon Resigns
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said Joseph Brandon has decided to resign as chairman and chief executive of its General Re Corp. reinsurance unit.
Franklin “Tad” Montross, General Re’s president, will replace Brandon as chairman and chief executive.
Berkshire did not give a reason for Brandon’s departure. Brandon was once considered a leading candidate to replace the 77-year-old Buffett at Berkshire’s helm. His status grew less certain when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission notified him in 2005 that he could face charges that he had violated U.S. securities laws. General Re was involved in a complex transaction in 2000 with the insurer American International Group Inc., which led to fraud convictions this year of four former General Re executives.