Aviva, which owns Norwich Union, said it planned to cut more than 4,000 jobs across the country by 2008.

City of York Council said the losses were “a bitter blow” and it would do all it could to support those affected.

In the past year, York has suffered job cuts by chocolate makers Terry’s and Nestle and more recently British Sugar.

Aviva said that half of the job losses were expected to be made through compulsory redundancies.

The York centre deals with Norwich Union’s marketing, strategy, IT and finance and employs 3,485 staff.

Aviva said the changes were necessary as consumers changed the way they bought insurance.

It is a bitter blow when a major employer est finance fundamentals hill in insurance investment irwin mcgraw real series such large job losses, particularly when so many are in York Bill Woolley, City of York Council’s director of strategy

But workers’ union Amicus finance insurance job
the cuts as “absolutely brutal”.

“They are treating their staff with contempt and clearly have more regard for their shareholder profits than their UK workforce.”

In addition to the Norwich Union job losses, Aviva also plans to close its York office of the BSM driving school by December 2007 with the loss of four jobs.

Strong economy

The export finance and insurance
director of city strategy, Bill Woolley, said he was shocked and surprised by news of the city’s cuts.

“It is a bitter blow when a major employer announces such large job losses, particularly when so many are in York,” he said.

He said the council had spoken to regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, Business Link, The Learning and Skills Council, Job Centre Plus and York College to see how the organisations could work together to help those who have been made redundant.

“We will be setting up an urgent meeting of all the relevant partners to see how we can maximise our joint efforts,” he added.

“However, despite this news, York’s economy remains strong. The task now is to ensure that all those who are affected by the Norwich Union banking career career finance in insurance opportunity opportunity
can benefit from its strength.”

Henderson’s private equity arm is now offering 1bn ($1.9bn) for the business as it aims to trump a 958m offer from German insurance company Allianz.

John Laing agreed to Allianz’s bid at the end of last month, after earlier backing a previous Henderson offer.

Laing builds art capital finance finance insurance managing risk structured wiley
and schools and owns the Chiltern Railways association of finance and insurance professional
.

It has finance household insurance
more than 50 public sector infrastructure projects under the private finance tesco finance car insurance (PFI).

The firm also built the second Severn Bridge crossing, and outside the UK has been involved in road corporate est finance finance hill in insurance irwin mcgraw real series
schemes in Norway, Poland and the United States.

Governments are often accused of thinking short term.

But a pensions reform Bill, included in the Queen’s Speech, is one of the most consciously long term bits of planning seen for some time.

Looking ahead to 2050, its main aim is to provide a higher level of state pension for many more people over the coming decades.

The big idea is that the link between the basic state pension and earnings will be restored some time after 2012 and the state pension age will be raised to 68 by 2046.

Just as importantly, the pensions of millions of women will be boosted because current regulations mean that many do not accumulate enough national insurance contributions to qualify for a full pension.

Consensus

There has been widespread support for the plans as outlined in the essential estate finance hill in insurance investment irwin mcgraw real series
recent White Paper.

The key thing is that this is long term stuff Richard Brooks, IPPR

“There is broad consensus for the re-indexation of the basic state pension with earnings, reasonable support for raising the state pension age, but less consensus for the model for the new personal accounts,” said Niki Cleal, director of the Pensions Policy Institute.

It is important to note that current pensioners will hardly be affected at all by the plans.

In fact, the younger you are the more important the changes are.

Richard Brooks, an associate director at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), said this was a big change in direction.

“The key thing is that this is long-term stuff,” he said.

“They are trying to rebuild the value of the state pension and stop the spread of means testing.”

Women

If the indexation of state pensions with earnings rather than inflation is combined, as planned, with a cut to 30 in the number of years of work or caring needed to qualify for a full state pension, the biggest winners will be women.

Women will have much to gain from pension reform, says the government

This is welcomed strongly by the trades union insurance premium finance
, the TUC.

“I think the package is a very big deal - the most radical set of reforms for 50 years,” said Michelle Lewis, pensions officer of the TUC.

But she pointed out that trade unionists are still unhappy that the basic state retirement age will be raised progressively.

“We are still to be convinced that the state pension needs to be raised,” she said.

“Many of our members work in areas where they are pretty worn out by 65.”

Lord Turner

The government launched its consultation earlier this year, in the wake of the proposals put forward by Lord Turner’s Pensions Commission.

Generally these plans are quite well thought through Matt Wakefield, IFS

But the government immediately raised some people’s suspicions that it would try to wriggle out of one of the main recommendations - that increases in the state pension should be linked to the rise in average earnings.

Back in May, the Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton said a precise date for this would only be announced at the start of the next government and would be “subject to affordability and the fiscal position”.

Since then several ministerial pronouncements have sought to reassure people that re-indexation really will come in, and by 2015 at the very latest.

But this verbal wrangle highlights a fundamental problem with any piece of long term home personal finance insurance
.

“Generally these plans are quite well thought through,” said Matt Wakefield, an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies,

“But this government can’t commit every government from now until 2050 to keep earnings indexation.”

National pensions savings scheme

One element that will not be included in the new legislation will be Lord Turner’s idea for a new national pensions savings scheme, or “personal accounts”, as the government likes to call them.

Lord Turner, architect of the government’s pensions reforms

This idea is going to be the subject of another White Paper in December and a further round of consultation.

This has been controversial with the private pensions industry hoping to get a slice of the business running such accounts for the state.

As currently proposed, all employers who do not currently pay into a pension scheme for their staff will have to start doing so.

Employers will pay 3% of salaries, employees will pay 4% and the government will contribute 1%.

There is a growing suspicion in some quarters though that this may lead to an example of the law of unintended automobile finance insurance
.

The fear is other employers might cut their current, higher, level of pension contribution down to the minimum level required by the Personal Accounts system.

“I think with the NPSS it is almost defining the level of contribution the government thinks is acceptable,” said Ian Price, head of pensions at investment firm St. James’s Place.

“So what you could have is an employer saying ‘what I need to have is a scheme requiring a maximum contribution of 8% - if it’s good enough for the NPSS (an early name for Personal Accounts) why isn’t it good enough for us? ”

Telefonica and a number of Italian finance firms will acquire an 18% stake in Olimpia, Telecom Italia’s parent firm, from tyre company Pirelli.

Telecom Italia’s share ownership structure means the deal will give the group control over key decisions.

Italian politicians had called for the firm to remain in Italian hands.

Foreign hostility

US telecoms giant AT&T banking finance insurance job uk
a joint bid with Mexico’s America Movil earlier this month, amid growing hostility in Italy to a foreign takeover.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi was among those who urged a domestic bidder to come forward.

Insurance finance and investment
partners include banking groups Mediobanca and Intesa Sanpaolo and insurance business Generali Finance household insurance
.

Between them, Intesa and General Assicurazioni already own 5.6% of Olimpia’s shares.

The Benetton family has also agreed to sell its 20% stake in Olimpia, although it will remain a member of the controlling consortium.

The deal, which must be approved by the competition authorities, is expected to be completed by October.

Telecom Italia is one of Europe’s largest telecoms providers, with about 24 million fixed-line customers in Italy and 32 million mobile users.

Islamic law forbids all forms of financial interest and has strict rules about the kind of products Muslims can invest in.

And if the industry does not respond to the demand, in a year the Inland Revenue will invest on behalf of these families, against their religion.

However, the Inland Revenue told the BBC it hopes the finance industry will set up a Sharia compliant account as there is nothing in the rules to prevent it from doing so.

The new Child Trust Fund (CTF) will be launched in April, and all parents of children born from 1 September, 2002, are getting at least 250 from the card estate estate finance hill in insurance irwin mcgraw powerweb principle real real series
to invest in special accounts for their child’s future.

There are currently 29 CTF accounts available in the UK, with some allowing parents to save in interest-paying cash accounts, and others which invest in shares.

But as Ibrahim Mogra, a Leicester Muslim explained:

“Unfortunately, at the moment there is no CTF where I could invest that money on behalf of my child because the places where the government has recommended are not Sharia compliant.”

Ethical investors

Other ethical investors also face a lack of choice. There is only one suitable account, which is being offered by the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS).

It is important there are more funds that match the principles and views of the investors Scott McAusland, EIRIS

Speaking to Money Box, Natalie Kurpas of the CIS said:

“The funds are not invested in any tobacco companies, any weapons, arms or nuclear power companies, anything like that. It is the only ethical finance home insurance personal tesco
CTF.”

However, the lack of choice concerns Scott McAusland from EIRIS, the Ethical Investment Research Service. He told Money Box:

“It is important there are more funds that match the principles and views of the investors, of the parents who are investing on behalf of their children, which match the aspirations they have for their children and the sort of world in which their children will grow up.”

‘Friendly’ funds

Investors’ money from the CIS Child Trust Fund will be channelled into the CIS FTSE4 Good Tracker Trust with performance linked to the FTSE4Good UK share index.

Jeremy Batstone, director of research for Charles Stanley Car insurance finance company
, explained:

BBC RADIO 4’s MONEY BOX Money Box was broadcast on Saturday, 5 February, 2005 at 1204 GMT Full programme information

“It is essentially an index made up of those companies regarded as being ethically or environmentally-friendly.

“It is not the same as the main FTSE 100 index as that comprises of certain companies that under certain criteria might not make ethically or environmentally-friendly portfolios.”

But this fund is not suitable for Muslims, as Faysal Sattar of Britain’s only firm of Muslim financial advisers, 1st Ethical, explained.

He said the CIS Child Trust Fund and FTSE4GOOD Index are not Sharia compliant because they are not strict enough in the firms they invest in.

However, Mr Sattar is hopeful the situation will change.

He is a member of the Muslim Council of Britain’s economic steering committee which advises the government on such matters, and he told the programme:

“We are hoping we can bring this matter up and try to think about a fund that will be able to cater for the Muslim community.”