JOBS GO AT ING LIFE JAPAN

NETHERLANDS-based financial services group ING is to eliminate 250 jobs out of 1,000 at its Japan-based life assurance unit. ING Life CEO Dick Okhuijsen, who is himself departing the company at the end of August, said that affected staff, mainly in the variable annuity business, would be given dismissal allowances and career-planning support from a newly hired consulting firm. Additional retirement benefits will be offered to older and longer-standing employees. ING Life is moving away from variable annuities to the corporate life sector, having posted a loss of €191m ($167m) pre-tax in the first quarter.