Insurance company Vivat, formerly known as Reaal, is reducing its workforce by around one-third over the coming years.

The company currently has some 3,000 workers but plans to slash this by between 900 and 1,200 jobs, the company said on Monday. Vivat was taken over by Chinese insurance group Anbang last year.

The company said in a statement that its costs are currently 30% higher than those of its competitors. Vivat also plans to make its operations ‘less complex’ and centralise its organisation but did not give further details.

Massive blow

Unions described the job losses as a massive blow but said the company has a good redundancy plan in place to help workers find new jobs. Tens of thousands of jobs have gone in the financial services sector over the past few years.

SNS Reaal was nationalised at the beginning of 2013 and divided into a banking arm (SNS Bank) and an insurance company (Reaal). The group posted a net loss of €712m in 2014, due to one-offs at its insurance arm. The bank itself, which will remain in state hands for some time, booked net profit of €151m.