Swiss Re is to close its Bermuda office with the loss of five jobs as the company seeks to cut costs.

The office, which is located on the fourth floor of Mintflower Place on Par-la-Ville Road, will be effectively shut down by the end of June this year, Swiss Re spokeswoman Alayna Tagariello told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"We employ five people at the Bermuda office and all of those positions will be eliminated," Ms Tagariello said. "We are focused on achieving cost efficiences. Any business going through our Bermuda office can be handled through other offices."

The Zurich-based company's Bermuda team is headed by Thomas Coffey, who referred this newspaper to the company's New York media relations office for comment.

The news is the latest bout of job losses in Bermuda's international business sector to come to light this year, after accountancy firm Ernst & Young released an undisclosed number of staff and then fund managers Butterfield Fulcrum Group said it was releasing around 30 employees from its Island operation.

The world economic crisis has had a huge impact on financial services worldwide with hundreds of thousands of jobs disappearing.

Swiss Re, the second biggest reinsurer in the world, is going through an uncertain time. Swiss newspaper Sonntag reported over the weekend that the company's chief executive officer Jacques Aigrain could be replaced as early as next month.

Last week Swiss Re shares fell 38 percent in the space of two days, as it announced a loss of $850 million for 2008. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett agreed to invest $2.6 billion, but Swiss Re may require to raise another $1.7 billion additionally.

Swiss Re's foray into trading securities such as credit-default swaps led to more than $5 billion of writedowns last year, eroding capital and reducing its market value by a third in 2008.

Mr. Aigrain, 54, is a former investment banker who headed up Swiss Re's financial-services unit from 2001 before becoming CEO in 2006.