"15,000 jobs to go"

A new report believes the UK insurance sector will shed 15,000 jobs by the end of the year.

The grim prediction was made in the report - Millennium Top Ten Predictions for the Global Insurance Industry - by Roger Magid of Deloitte Consulting.

Mr. Magid said while this year would see the brunt of job losses borne by insurers, the coming years would impact just as heavily on insurance brokers and intermediaries. 

He said 4,000 of the job losses would result from the proposed merger of CGU and Norwich Union, while the rest  would be lost by the further rationalisation of back office systems and the effects of recent mergers also worked themselves through. 

He said that many of the more traditional white collar roles would be lost and be replaced with roles in both call centres and internet support. 

The report said the new generation would deal direct with financial service providers using non-traditional channels. Such a move would give rise to a new breed of internet brokers capable of offering competing quotes from several insurers. 

"Insurance Day"