Royal London, the mutual insurer which employs more than 1200 in Scotland, has moved to reassure staff that a major rebranding exercise poses no threat to their jobs.

The company announced on Thursday that 132-year-old Scottish Life and 176-year-old Scottish Provident, which survive as pension and insurance brands run by its Scottish business, were to disappear next year.

But a report yesterday claimed that the group's 1028 jobs in Edinburgh and 178 in Glasgow were "under threat" from the initiative owing to some "replication" across the group.

Royal London spokesman Gareth Evans said: "It is not a story. There are no job implications with this rebranding exercise, there will be no job losses as a result of this."

He added: "There are already shared services between the brands in IT, but we are not reorganising the way the brands are serviced."

Two of Scotland's oldest finance names will give way to a single Royal London brand covering pensions, investment and insurance, but Phil Loney, chief executive, said: "We are employing more people in Scotland than we ever have before and the businesses are doing really well.

"We love being in Scotland and we don't see that changing."