The sponsor of the Institute of Financial Planning currently employs 1,400 people in its UK life proposition.
The firm said it was changing its proposition to deliver profitable growth and the cuts were part of a group-wide focus on expense management.
Roles will be cut in senior management, finance, legal, risk, compliance, operations and marketing. Staff have been notified and will enter a 30-day consultation process.
David Sims, interim chief executive of Zurich’s UK Life business, said: “It is always hard to make decisions which impact our people in this way, and we will do everything we can to support them through this process.
“However with today’s uncertain economic outlook it’s more important than ever that we, like all companies, protect our business. This enables us to remain competitive and flexible so that we can meet the changing needs of our customers and distributors and provide them with the products and service they need.”
He said recruitment would be taking place in other divisions to reflect the requirements for changing skills in the business.