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Post Office set to offer insurance services

Date: Wed, 18 Jun 03 Analysis

LONDON, UK - The UK Post Office is planning to start offering a wider range of financial services, beginning with unsecured loans this October and credit cards and car and life insurance within the next 18 months.

The move is being made to counterbalance the loss of 3,000 urban post offices and provide consumers with more desirable services.

The 3,000 offices to be cut amount to a third of the total UK offices and are part of a transformation programme aimed at returning Royal Mail to profit.

In May, Royal Mail posted a loss of £611 million before tax for the year to end-March, down from £1.1 billion the previous year.

Meanwhile, losses from day-to-day operations fell to £197 million from £318 million, its first improvement in trading performance for five years.

'We are determined to put our Post Office branches on a better financial footing by giving customers the products they want,' said Allan Leighton, chairman of Royal Mail, the Post Office's parent company.

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