STOCKHOLM, February 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The trend for Scandinavia's multi-national companies to recruit a truly international workforce in support of increasingly global business initiatives has prompted CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits - the world's largest provider of employer-sponsored International Health Care Plans - to strengthen its service offering to clients in the region, by opening a new local base in Stockholm.

CIGNA International's new office - headed up by International Sales Director for Scandinavia, Lars-Einar Petterson - will provide a locally based international healthcare service to multi-national clients based in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.

Commenting on CIGNA's new base in the Scandinavian market, Sheldon Kenton, European Managing Director for CIGNA International, said:

"Scandinavian companies continue to become increasingly global in their activities and we are working with various size companies which are recruiting from a diverse labour market. In the past their expatriates were mainly Scandinavian nationals working abroad. Now, they are evolving into truly international groups of many nationalities. We believe having a local presence is essential to understanding this changing market. When the success of an employer's business initiative can depend upon the wellbeing of its international workforce, those expatriates need the reassurance that they have access to quality healthcare on a global basis."

CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits also has sales offices based in London, Glasgow, Madrid, Dubai, Zurich, Munich, The Hague and Brussels.

Notes to Editors

CIGNA International, the global business division of CIGNA Corporation, markets life, accident and employee benefits - including healthcare insurance - in selected markets around the world. CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits is a business unit of CIGNA International and the world's largest provider of employer sponsored insurance plans for expatriate employees.

For more information please contact: Lynda Hardy Maskell, Hardy Maskell Media & Communications, +44-1736 732945, E:lynda.hardymaskell@virgin.net; Sheldon Kenton, CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits, +44-1737-235252, E:Sheldon.kenton@cigna.com