The pet insurance industry is set for a major shake-up following news that Cornhill Insurance is to make 40 positions redundant in its restructuring of the administration of its animal insurance companies DBI Insurance and Petplan.
The change will mean the administration of DBI Insurance with turnover of £19 million (1998), a company it acquired in November, moving to Brentford in West London where it will sit alongside the administration of Petplan, another company Cornhill acquired in 1996. DBI has 150,000 policyholders whereas Petplan has almost 500,000 policyholders and a turnover of £60m.
DBI's Bournemouth offices will be retained in the short term to handle the relocation of the business to Brentford. Closure of the offices is planned by 2001.
George Stratford, general manager of Cornhill's schemes division, said: "We have invested in a new administration system and call centre in Brentford. Running DBI and Petplan in parallel from the same site brings large economies of scale that simply cannot be ignored."
DBI and Petplan will continue to trade as separate brands and insurers, but in future DBI will use Petplan's systems and infrastructure.
