Swiss Life is cutting jobs and costs as it looks to bolster its defenses against the financial crisis by boosting sales and margins abroad after reporting first-half profits that beat forecasts.

Switzerland’s largest life insurer said on Wednesday it aimed to cut 520 jobs in Switzerland by 2012 — about 6 percent of its total workforce — and reduce costs by around 350 to 400 million francs at the same time.

Net profit from continuing operations for the first half rose 13 percent to 172 million Swiss francs ($162 million) against an average analyst forecast of 144 million francs in a Reuters poll.

Gross written premiums fell to 10.39 billion francs from 10.89 billion francs a year earlier.

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