200 jobs go as Standard Life cuts costs
The Edinburgh-based group said it expected to make the job cuts as part of a restructuring designed to reduce costs by an estimated ÂŁ11 million per year.
It is moving support for its operations that handle new business into six customer service centres, which it said would give more flexibility.
The firm added that maturity and retirement payouts on life and pensions with-profits policies would fall by about 6% the fourth reduction in under two years.
Standard Life made the announcements as it revealed sales of pensions and other products had fallen in the six months to May 15 on the same period last year, although new British business in the period was up 77%.
It blamed yesterday's reduction in pay-outs on long-term savings policies on "profound changes in the investment environment", particularly low inflation and falling interest rates, resulting in far lower projected returns.
The group said it was not changing the annual bonus rates on conventional with-profits policies, the firm added. Managing director of Standard Life's marketing division Simon Douglas said the mutual remained financially strong and its policies remained competitive.
The mutual, which has faced attempts by disgruntled investors to demutualise it earlier this year, is the latest in a long line of life insurers to cut pay-outs on with-profits policies.
Insurers first began reducing them just under two years ago and since then Prudential, Norwich Union and Scottish Widows have all reduced them three times in just over a year.
With-profits policies aim to smooth out stock market volatility throughout the course of an investment, withholding some growth in strong years to pay returns in bad ones.
Today's move by Standard Life will reduce the maturity value of a 25-year savings policy into which ÂŁ50 a month had been paid to ÂŁ69,386 if it matured today from ÂŁ75,984 before the cut was announced.
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