Job loss fears at US insurance giant

American insurance broker Marsh & McLennan could cut hundreds of jobs in the UK this spring, it emerged today.

The US-owned company is reported to be considering repeating a cost-cutting exercise that saw 280 jobs lost in the UK last November as part of a 3,000-strong global cull.

The job cuts could come as soon as the end of March, when the company completes a review of its business.

No-one from Marsh & McLennan was available to comment today.

But the Sunday Express quoted Bruce Carnegie-Brown, the recently promoted chief executive of Marsh’s European and Middle Eastern operations, as saying the company was not ruling out anything.

When asked if job cuts similar to those last November would be needed to put the group back on track, Mr Carnegie-Brown said: “That could be one of the outcomes.”

Marsh & McLennan is a global professional services firm with annual revenues topping $11bn (€8.4bn).

It deals in risk and insurance services through its Marsh, Guy Carpenter, MMC Capital and Kroll arms. Kroll was recently appointed as the administrators of collapsed department store firm Allders.

Marsh & McLennan also has investment management group Putnam Investments and business consulting group Mercer.

Marsh has some 6,450 employees at more than 30 offices in the UK including London, Maidstone, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and in Wales.

Many observers have been speculating for weeks that Marsh will make drastic changes to its operation in order to recover profits after its reputation was tarnished last year by a kickbacks scandal in the US following a probe by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, the Sunday Express said.

He accused Marsh of rigging bids and using inflated quotes to steer clients to insurers that paid the best commissions, the newspaper reported.

A settlement with Spitzer’s office is likely to run to up to $750m (€573m).

Mr Carnegie-Brown was credited with exonerating the broker’s UK operation of any bid rigging after hiring law firm Freshfields to do a review.