QBE has announced to staff that about 40 roles will be made redundant, insuranceNEWS.com.au understands.

However, the insurer is hoping to redeploy about a quarter of the affected employees.

A spokeswoman declined to confirm any details, saying only that “these changes have impacted less than 2% of QBE’s Australia Pacific workforce and did not affect all teams across the business”.

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) published a message on its website pledging to support affected staff.

“FSU has been advised of the changes that are happening at QBE,” the message said.

“We’re aware that due to these changes a number of positions will be made redundant.

“QBE has stated ‘there are number of redeployment opportunities across the business, and QBE will be working closely with employees to maximise these opportunities’.

“The FSU is aware there will be a four-week redeployment period following the redundancy announcement.”

insuranceNEWS.com.au reported in March last year that QBE would reduce its headcount by 200 over the following 12 months.

But insuranceNEWS.com.au understands the 200 figure, which was given as the COVID pandemic took hold, is no longer accurate, with the insurer having found other ways to cut costs.

QBE declined to provide an alternative number, however.