Argo Group to exit grocery and retail business unit

Specialty insurer and reinsurer Argo Group International Holdings announced plans to exit the grocery and retail lines of business, which include providing general liability and self-insured retention risk management programs for grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants and other retail businesses.

“This is another step in our ongoing efforts to simplify the business, reduce expenses and streamline operations. This is in line with the plan we announced to investors last year, which also emphasized our efforts to continue investing in lines of business with the most opportunity for significant profitability.” – Gary Grose, US Operations EVP at Argo Group .

The company intends to put this business into run-off immediately, resulting in a staffing reduction of approximately 20 positions from Argo Insurance and its dedicated claims team. The company will work to move some of this team into other open positions, and a few members of the team will stay on to assist with the run-off operations.