Swiss Life, the Swiss reinsurer, has posted a loss of Sfr386m (€263m) for the first half of the year ahead of its expected Sfr1.2bn rights issue, and is cutting 700 jobs by the end of 2004.

The firm trebled gross operating income to Sfr500m from the first six months last year, however it lost 20% of the value of its equity portfolio, which fell to Sfr3.9bn. It has reduced its exposure to equities from 17% at the beginning of the year to 3% this month. The firm also made a Sfr537m write-down on its stake in Banca del Gottardo, the Swiss private bank.