Aviva cuts jobs in UK
Aviva Group will cut 1,100 permanent jobs from its UK operations in the next few months.
It is also slashing 590 contract positions as the economy falters in the UK.
The jobs will be cut from its Norwich Union Life business in four regional centres in the UK, including its traditional home Norwich.
Aviva said the cuts were the result of three years of projects to simplify operations and improve efficiency.
“As this work nears completion, the number of roles in the business will reduce,” the company said in a statement.
“The majority of these roles are in business change and IT and the remainder are spread across other areas of the business.”
By the end of 2009, Norwich Union Life will have about 800 employees in the UK, chief executive Mark Hodges said.
“We have made significant progress in improving our operational efficiency and are also nearing completion on a series of major change projects,” he said.
“Unfortunately, this means that a reduction in the number of roles in the business is inevitable.”
The UK move is in contrast to the Australian operations where chief executive officer Allan Griffiths has said there will be no foreseeable redundancies in the future, although it has a freeze on recruitment at present.
In a separate move on the same day in the UK, Swiss Re announced it was cutting its global workforce by 10 per cent.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.