700 jobs are under threat at Zurich’s UK business, but the Australian operation of the financial giant says the development has no implications here.

Zurich announced plans last week to close its UK call centres and move some of the work to India. All 730 of the affected staff have been warned of probable redundancies and Zurich has started consultations with the staff trade union.

Zurich Australia says the move will have no relevance in Australia, where the focus is on commercial lines rather than retail classes of insurance. Spokesman Rob White told Sunrise Exchange News the insurer does not have a big call centre operation in Australia.

“We infrequently deal with the end customer and the majority of our business is through intermediaries, so this call centre development does not affect Australia at all.”