'Significant redundancies' planned following Swiss Life sale

The Swiss Life Group is to sell its group income protection business and the renewal rights, in a move that will "lead to a significant number of redundancies over the next two years".

With the transfer of the group risk business to group life and critical illness business UnumProvident, the Swiss Life Group has now "effectively withdrawn" from the UK market except for the international pooling business

The decision affects around 250 staff currently employed in the group risk business at Swiss Life (UK). To ensure a smooth migration of the business, it is expected that UnumProvident will retain a number of staff at Swiss Life (UK)'s Liverpool service centre for a certain period of time. Ultimately, UnumProvident plans to manage the business from its own locations.

In July 2003, the Swiss Life Group announced that the UK operation would close to new individual business.

In addition, UnumProvident will be the new partner for the Swiss Life Network in the UK.

The transaction comprises approximately 1,800 group income protection policies covering 280,000 people and renewal rights to approximately 6,800 group life and critical illness policies covering 1.3 million lives.

The first transfer date is 1 January 2004 and is subject to regulatory approval. The financial terms of the transaction are to remain confidential.

Rolf Dörig, Chief Executive Officer of the Swiss Life Group, said: "We want to focus all our energies on core business and to restore profitability. By transferring group risk business from Swiss Life (UK) to UnumProvident we can take a further step in this direction."

(gmcg)