Swiss insurer says it needs to make business more efficient 

Zurich is to cut 500 jobs from its German operations, according to Reuters.

However, Zurich has said that the job losses, which account for roughly 10% of its 5,500 staff, will be limited to Germany.

Zurich added that the programme would include an investment of more than 200 million euros ($228 million) to make its operations there more efficient. 

The job losses cap off a challenging year for the Swiss-based insurer.

It originally expected to have $3bn in spare cash which would have been used to snap up RSA.

But large losses in China and reserving issues in its US motor book led Zurich to pull out of the deal at the eleventh hour. 

The RSA and Zurich deal also failed to fully convince investors, analysts and media.

At the start of this month, life boss Kristof Terryn took over the general insurance arm from Mike Kerner. 

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