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| Tom Watjen, CEO Unum Group |
A US insurance company is to
establish an Irish unit which will result in the creation of up to 200 jobs
through the opening a software service centre in Carlow town.
The Irish unit of Unum, which
specialises in providing employee benefits and group and individual disability
income protection insurance, will provide technology services and quality
assurance to its US parent.
An initial 100 software developers
and graduates will be recruited by the end of 2008 and a further 100 staff are
expected to be hired, depending on the initial project's success.
Unum is reported to have plans to
work closely with Carlow's Institute of Technology, which has a school of
science and computing, to attract suitable graduates.
Unum is headquartered in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, and has offices around the globe with a significant
corporate presence in Portland, Maine; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Glendale
California. Its subsidiaries include Colonial Life Accident Insurance Company in
South Carolina and Unum Limited in the UK.
The company says it provides
services for more than 40 per cent of Fortune 500 companies.
For the year to the end of December
last, Unum had revenues of $10.52 billion, down from $10.54 billion in 2006. Net
profits rose 65% in 2007 to $679.3 million.
