MORE than 50 jobs at the Watford branch of a major insurance company are under threat, after the proposed closure of the local office was announced this week.

The Co-op Insurance Society (CIS) is planning to close 14 of its offices around Britain, including Watford, with the loss of 170 jobs in total. Fifty-three jobs at Watford will be affected.

The news follows the announcement of the loss of 2,000 jobs in July last year.

A Co-op representative said: "At the moment the closure is a proposal and it has to go through the required consultation process. All the staff at Watford will be offered the opportunity to relocate."

CIS was established in 1867 and currently sells life insurance, home insurance, pensions, unit trusts and other financial products to more than five million customers.

In recent years, it has been affected by increased competition in the financial services sector.

The growing trend for buying financial products via the internet or telephone rather than from a financial advisor is also said to have had an adverse impact on the company.

CIS is one of the Co-op's largest operations, employing 9,000 staff. CIS chief executive Paul Hewitt said: "The decision taken to close our smaller offices is a reflection on the model we require going forwards for larger, more specialist teams.

"We certainly hope a large number of staff will re-deploy to the new centres and be a part of a world-class claims operation in the future."