Willis to make redundancies to trim costs - sources

Willis has started another round of redundancies, Reinsurance has learned.

Some cuts have already been made in the broker's casualty unit, market sources said, and cuts are expected across the board as the broker attempts to trim costs.

Willis did not comment on how many people were being made redundant in the first three months of the year - Willis has traditionally outlined how many redundancies there were in its quarterly statements to the market - but said that 2008 and 2009 levels of staffing remained broadly similar.

A spokesman said: "Willis continuously evaluates its work force to make sure we have the right number of people in the right places with the talent we need to achieve our growth objectives. While some roles are eliminated, others are added and the net effect is that the size of our work force is essentially unchanged from 2008 to 2009."