UP TO 55 finance jobs at York-based Norwich Union Life will be transferred to the company's operations in Sri Lanka, it emerged today.

Job transfers were first announced in September when parent company Aviva declared its plans to create 950 posts in Asia, 80 of them finance support roles, in order to cut costs.

At the time Norwich Union said there might be about 60 compulsory redundancies in York as a result of the announcement, but a detailed review of the exact areas of work would have to be made.

Now it has been revealed that about 23 jobs in the treasury clearing services, seven in the expense service centre and 25 in general ledger assurance, will be transferred.

A further assessment will determine the nature of the remaining 25 finance support jobs from the original announcement which will be affected and these will be announced to staff at a later date.

Meanwhile, from early next month some employees of WNS, one of the firm's three offshore providers in Asia, will be working with Norwich Union in the UK to map processes.

A letter to staff said: "We recognise and don't underestimate the uncertainty these changes will bring and we will do everything we can to help individuals through this time.

"We promise to keep you regularly updated with our progress as we move through this process."

But a spokesperson for Norwich Union Life said: "This is not to say that this latest assessment will result in 55 redundancies.

"We have started the consultation process and have a very good track record of redeploying and retraining staff in which we invest £1 million a year

"That is evident in the fact that in spite of job transfers last year we employed 2,994 people in York by the end of the year - just one person fewer than at the end of 2003."

Andy Case, lead officer for members of the union Amicus at Norwich Union Life in York, said: "We are monitoring this carefully."

Updated: 10:17 Wednesday, March 23, 2005