Swiss insurer says it needs to make business more efficient

zurich

Zurich is to cut 500 jobs from its German operations, according to Reuters.

The insurer employs around 5,500 staff globally but the cuts will only affect Germany.

Zurich added that the programme would include an investment of more than 200 million euros ($228 million) to make its operations there more efficient. 

The job losses cap off a challenging year for the Swiss-based insurer, according to Global Reinsurance’s sister title Insurance Times.

It originally expected to have $3bn in spare cash which would have been used to snap up RSA.

But large losses in China and reserving issues in its US motor book led Zurich to pull out of the deal at the eleventh hour. 

At the start of this month, life boss Kristof Terryn took over the general insurance arm from Mike Kerner.