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Swiss Life to sell UK operation

Date: Mon, 18 Aug 03 Analysis

Switzerland's biggest insurer, Swiss Life, is to exit the British insurance market after 36 years as it sells its last UK operation.

The US giant UnumProvident has bought Swiss Life's UK income protection and critical illness division for an undisclosed sum.

Around 250 jobs will be lost at the insurers Liverpool offices, which follow 200 job losses announced last month.

The sale is part of Swiss Life's strategy to refocus operations on its most profitable core businesses after its record loss of £780 million last year. The firm has also stopped offering individual life insurance policies.

'We want to focus all our energies on our core business and restore profitability,' chief executive Rolf Dorig said, according to BBC News Online.

'By transferring group risk business from Swiss Life UK to UnumProvident we can take a further step in this direction.'

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