Jobs review as Prudential seeks to save €285.5m

Prudential said today that the work of 2,000 UK staff was under review after it outlined plans for cost savings worth £195m (€285.5m) a year.

The group said it was in discussions with outsourcing firms but had yet to make a decision on the future of 3,000 jobs serving its UK business, which are split between the UK and an offshore operation in Mumbai.

The Pru’s life and pensions business employs around 6,000 people in total, including 2,400 staff in Stirling with another 1,900 in Reading.

Nick Prettejohn, chief executive of Prudential UK, said: “We are looking at the work of 3,000 people and the importance of the work of those 3,000 people we have yet to determine.

“Whether our cost savings come from more offshoring or more outsourcing we have yet to determine.”

The life insurance group, which is under pressure to improve the performance of its UK business, also revealed it was buying Equitable Life’s £1.8bn (€2.6bn)-with-profits annuity book as it unveiled better-than-expected full-year pre-tax operating profits of £1.98bn (€2.9bn).

Prudential said it had withdrawn from some areas of individual pensions and unit-linked bonds markets as part of its turnaround strategy for the ailing UK business.