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 | | Tuesday, 14 May, 2002, 11:57 GMT 12:57 UK Axa cuts 700 UK jobs  Axa is cutting jobs in its general insurance division Axa, the French-owned insurance group, is to cut 700 jobs in the UK. The company said the jobs would go over the next 12 months as part of a restructuring of its UK general insurance business. Jobs to go include 320 from a call centre in Colchester, 230 from a Cardiff claims unit and 85 from an office in Bolton. Spokesman Phil Hickley said: "We need to enhance the profitability of Axa Insurance. "We need to make it a more efficient customer facing operation." 'Kicked in the teeth' He said there was a possibility about 150 staff could be redeployed.
Jon Owen Jones, Labour MP for Cardiff Central, criticised Axa's decision to cut jobs in the Welsh capital shortly after sponsoring the FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium. "A few weeks ago Cardiff was perfect for Axa's public relations team when they draped their logo all over the town centre for the FA Cup final. "Now they have turned round and kicked the city in the teeth. "As they sat in the corporate hospitality boxes in the Millennium Stadium they must have known they were about to turn their backs on Cardiff and its excellent workforce." More efficient Axa said the cuts at the general insurance business - which covers car, household and commercial insurance - followed a strategic review. Staff were briefed about the changes on Tuesday morning and the company said they would be offered a "comprehensive support package" to help them find new jobs. Axa said it would be investing �100m in new IT systems as part of the restructuring. Mr Hickley said: "It will simplify systems and processes and enable us to deal with customers much more efficiently in the future." | | See also:  Top Business stories now:  Links to more Business stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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