Aetna to Cut 2,600 Jobs in Reorganization : Insurance: The company also reports a 51% drop in earnings for the third quarter.

Aetna Life & Casualty Co. today announced that it will eliminate 2,600 jobs and undergo a massive restructuring that it said will save hundreds of millions of dollars.

The insurance and financial services company, which is based in Hartford, Conn., and employs 45,200 people nationwide, also announced a 51% drop in third-quarter earnings due to a one-time charge of $60 million for the severance, benefits and other costs associated with the reorganization.

“We have been carefully reviewing Aetna’s organization for some time to best position the company for success in a rapidly changing marketplace,” said James T. Lynn, Aetna chairman.

Under the reorganization, scheduled to be put in place March 4, Aetna said it will regroup its three domestic insurance divisions into two divisions.

Most of the job eliminations will come from Aetna’s three Hartford-area offices, spokesman John C. Hawkins said, although he said it was too early to tell how many jobs will be lost through attrition or through actual layoffs.

The three offices are in Hartford, Middletown and Windsor.

“The actual number of people affected should be less than the jobs we listed today,” he said.

Of the two new groups to be organized, one will include managed health care, group insurance, small business employee benefits markets, pension and financial services, individual annuity and pension and sponsored sales.

The other will be made up of commercial markets, national commercial accounts, bond, personal auto, homeowners and individual life.

Aetna also reported that it earned $88.6 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared to earnings of $183 million a year earlier.

Revenue slipped 1.2% to $4.84 billion in the quarter from $4.90 billion for the same period last year.