More lay-offs at Rebus iS?

Rebus iS plans to relocate its London office and make more staff redundant, chief executive Robert Gogel has warned.

He told Insurance Times that up to 35 more people from all levels could leave the IT insurance service provider, but there would be no further redundancies after that. Last September, 20 staff were made redundant, followed by another 40 in January.

Out of the 172 remaining staff in Rebus' Leman Street offices, Gogel plans to relocate 75 to 100 to premises closer to the City. The remainder would join the company's Southend branch or work from home.

Gogel said over the next year he was looking for "relative stability" in the UK and London Market, where 50% to 60% of Rebus' business was placed.

Rebus' international reinsurance and insurance system, IRIS, had now been launched on Microsoft Windows NT, powered by Oracle, he said.

Rebus also hoped to grow by 5% in both Asia and North America.

"It is not a huge amount but we want it to be profitable and good business," said Gogel. "It is easy to sell bad business."

He added he was looking to form alliances with other companies, particularly in Canada and the US.

"If you want to grow fast, you want partners through systems integrators and distributors," he said.

Gogel said a partnership with Ins-sure, which was behind the modernisation of the London Market, had "absolute potential", as both were owned by General Atlantic Partners. He added he would sell the company, but would also consider acquisitions.

"It is theoretically possible we could be bought by someone else," he said. "It depends on the pricing, deal structure and a lot of issues.

"The insurance industry is going to consolidate as there are too many suppliers so they will have to rationalise through mergers, acquisitions and licensing agreements."