The insurance group Swiss Life has announced plans to shed 200 jobs in Switzerland by 2012, as part of a SFr90 million ($75 million) cost-cutting programme.

Swiss Life said a third of the savings would be achieved through job losses, the rest through changing the division of responsibilities between head office and the business units and reducing the number of IT projects.

The details come after chief executive Bruno Pfister revealed in a newspaper interview last week that job cuts would be part of "cost management" measures.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Pfister said Swiss Life was now streamlining its group head office in Zurich.

"The aim is to make the new Corporate Center as lean as possible and to concentrate on the essentials. This will enable us to lower costs and will enhance flexibility," he said.

On November 19 the country's third-largest insurance company announced that its third-quarter premium volumes had fallen 11 per cent to SFr3.08 billion.

The company also warned it would not meet its full-year net profit outlook and stopped its share buyback programme.

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