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Aviva swings the axe
Britain’s largest insurance company, Aviva, parent of Norwich Union, is looking for another swathe of job cuts as part of a bid to save £350 million a year in costs. Andrew Moss, chief executive since July, is launching this latest round of pruning little more than a year after the company announced 4,000 job losses to save an annual £250 million.
Elsewhere, the Resolution Life saga has been rumbling on. Standard Life, chaired by merchant banker Gerry Grimstone and steered by chief executive Sandy Crombie, has, as a prospective bidder, been following events closely, as Hugh Osmond’s Pearl Group has moved to interrupt the original £8 billion merger planned between Resolution and Friends Provident, itself seen as a potential bid target.
Bid fever also rages across the Channel. German reinsurance giant Munich Re has bought specialist US primary insurer Midland for £650 million as part of a new expansion strategy for its North American business.
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