AVIVA INVESTORS Ireland, the asset management division of insurance company Aviva which manages pension funds on behalf of Allied Irish Bank and Hibernian Aviva Life Pensions, is to wind down most of its investment management operations in Dublin with the loss of up to 30 jobs.

The company, which traded as Hibernian Investment Managers before the acquisition of Hibernian by Aviva, employs 35 people in its Dublin office.

A spokeswoman for Aviva Investors in London said the company would transfer all investment operations in Dublin to its other global centres and would retain a “client service centre” in Ireland.

The spokeswoman said the company could not confirm how many jobs would be lost as discussions with staff and union representatives were ongoing.

She said the process would be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2010.

However, company sources said yesterday that employees had been told on Monday that up to 30 jobs were to be lost and employees would not be re-employed either in Dublin or London.

The move comes a month after the multinational insurance giant announced it was to centralise its 12 continental European operations in Ireland.

Aviva said it planned to establish a single European holding company in Ireland, to be named Aviva Europe General Insurance, subject to regulatory approval.

Hibernian Aviva chief executive Stuart Purdy said last month the company’s decision to consolidate its European operations in Ireland was not solely due to tax reasons, although Ireland’s corporate tax rate was a factor.

Aviva Investors Ireland’s primary activity is the provision of investment management services to Hibernian Aviva Life Pensions and AIB.

Among the AIB pension plans managed by the company are the bank’s executive pension plan, personal pension plan, personal retirement savings account and approved retirement fund.

An AIB spokesman said the relocation of Aviva Investors Ireland would have no impact on the bank’s customers, and that AIB would continue to receive the same level of customer service for its customers that it has already received.

Accounts filed at the Companies Registration Office show that pre-tax profits at Aviva Investors Ireland fell by 43 per cent in 2008 to €3.8 million, down from €6.7 million in 2007.

The company paid a dividend of €3.8 million in 2008, down from just over €9 million the previous year.