DRIAS Transnat Ltd - a US company specialising in providing administrative outsourcing services for insurance companies - has chosen Cardiff as the base for its first European Centre of Excellence. The investment by DRIAS will create 30 jobs initially, rising to 50 over two years.
The investment is supported by £162,000 from the Welsh Government Economic Growth Fund.
It is the company’s first expansion outside of North America and Cardiff was chosen from a number of potential locations.
Business Minister Edwina Hart, who met Dick Votel, President and CEO of DRIAS this week, said it was a welcome addition to Wales’ rapidly expanding financial and professional services sector.
Mrs Hart said,
“I am delighted to hear that the strong, robust financial services and call centre labour force in Wales is to be the foundation for their pan-European expansion strategy. This is believed to be the first such investment from a US company in Wales for more than five years.
“DRIAS is widely recognised in the USA as a premier provider of administrative outsourcing services for insurance companies and the decision to base their first European centre in Cardiff reflects the region’s reputation as a centre for financial and professional services. I wish them every success.”
The Minister added that Cardiff is proving to be an attractive proposition for this high growth sector. The city is the only one in the UK to have a dedicated Enterprise Zone for Financial and Professional Services within a new Central Business District where plans include £1 billion investment to create capacity for 40,000 new jobs.
This latest investment follows on from an earlier announcement that Deloitte has chosen Wales as the location for a new hub for its risk operations team, creating up to 100 new jobs and D&B UK is to retain a strong presence in the city.
DRIAS President and CEO Dick Votel stated that,
"DRIAS chose Cardiff as the ideal location for it's European business after considering a number of countries across Europe.
“Support from Welsh Government and Cardiff Council's ambition for the Financial and Professional Services Industry were key considerations. The Government and Council were immensely supportive and very pro business.
“But people and skills are key. My long experience of administration outsourcing for the insurance and Banking sectors tells me great business needs great people. In Cardiff's fast growing City Region we found a rich pool of skilled professionals supported by academia."
Ken Poole of PWC ,the company's location advisor indicated that the decision by DRIAS, a new investor from North America, is a great boost to inward investment in Wales and Cardiff and hopefully the beginning of a new stream of investors from the worlds most important inward investment source market.
DRIAS, a privately owned company, administers group and individual life and health insurance plans on behalf of financial institutions and insurance companies.
They manage most functions normally performed by the financial institution or insurance company such as application processing, data capture, customer billing, policyholder communications, customer service and claims services.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota the company administers over 1.9 million paid for policies and maintain over 28 million records on their proprietary systems.
Its new centre will be based in the Global Reach Building, Celtic Gateway Business Park, Cardiff Bay and focus on high volume client contact and bespoke end-to-end product administration.