Accenture secures outsourcing deal with UBS


26 May 2003

Management consulting and tech services firm Accenture has signed a long-term pan-European contract to provide insurance policy servicing support on an outsourced basis to UBS Life International in Dublin.

Under the terms of the agreement, Accenture will manage policy-servicing operations for UBS International’s new Unit Linked Life Insurance product across Europe through the Accenture life insurance outsourcing unit in the Netherlands.

Accenture will handle the majority of back office functions, supporting services and web systems for the new product, which Accenture helped UBS to design and bring to market.

Accenture is the largest management and tech services organisations in Ireland, employing over 800 people – some 500 in its consulting practice at the IFSC and a further 300 in its European Services Centre in Grand Canal Plaza. The company recently announced plans that it intends to create an additional 150 jobs in Ireland by the end of this year.

Olav Noack, board member of UBS Life, said that the new deal enabled low start-up costs and a seamless transition to policy servicing operations. “Accenture’s ability to provide policy servicing throughout Europe as well as their involvement in helping us to develop and launch our new life insurance product was a critical factor in our decision”, Noack said.

Accenture’s Peter Heemskerk, a partner in its Financial Services division, described the contract win as a major mile-stone in cross-border insurance servicing outsourcing.

By John Kennedy