Insurers barred from job cuts

Johannesburg - South Africa's competition watchdog on Thursday ruled that insurer MMI Holdings (MMI) will not be allowed to cut jobs for two years, blocking an appeal from the recently formed company.

Regulators in October approved the merger between insurers Metropolitan and Momentum to create MMI, as long as the new company did not cut jobs for two years.

Metropolitan and Momentum, said last month they would appeal the ruling.

The Competition Tribunal said in an e-mailed statement it had ruled against MMI's appeal, saying it failed to justify a planned 1000 job cuts.

"None of the merging parties are failing and are in fact sucessful businesses," the tribunal said.

"The merging parties failed to demonstrate that there was a rational connection between the efficiencies sought from the merger and the job losses claimed to be necessary to the merger."