Egg moves 120 jobs around the City

Egg, the internet bank, is closing its London offices as part of a cost-cutting exercise that will see 120 jobs moved around the capital.

The move is part of a wider cost-cutting plan by parent company Prudential, as it also axes offices in Belfast and Bristol, moving a total of 700 jobs around.

The company did not say how many redundancies are expected but admitted between 100 and 200 jobs will be outsourced to Mumbai in India as the company plans to save £40m per year through the restructuring.

A Prudential spokesman said: "We're closing the Egg headquarters and moving [employees] across the City. It's a combination of putting financial roles into the City and marketing roles into the Paddington office.

"[The Mumbai jobs] will be roles undertaken in the Prudential office in Belfast - back-office roles. It's likely that there will be redundancies but these roles are moving to Scotland, Derby or Mumbai."

Compulsory redundancies could begin at the end of the year but the relocation programme will take two years to complete. Staff at the Belfast and Bristol offices are in a 90-day consultation period with unions and staff groups.

Nick Prettejohn, CEO of Prudential UK and chairman of Egg, said in a statement: "Any change that results in redundancies is regrettable. We are consulting with unions and staff organisations and will make every effort to ensure that our people are kept informed and helped through this difficult transition period."

Prudential has 6,880 full-time staff (5,765 in the UK and 1,115 in Mumbai). Belfast, which will close by the end of 2007, employs around 500 staff working in customer services. Bristol, the human resources office, employs 40 staff and will close by April 2007.