Butterfield to move ten local jobs to Canada

| 11/09/2019 | 52 Comments
Cayman News Service
Butterfield Bank, George Town

(CNS): Butterfield Bank is losing ten local jobs, officials have confirmed, as part of a restructuring announced by the financial institution that will see positions migrating to the support services centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Twelve posts in Bermuda and ten here in the Cayman Islands will go. All of the job losses are in the card fraud department, the middle office areas and call centres, and will impact nine Caymanian workers.

A Butterfield spokesperson told CNS it was working to find alternative roles within the bank for the local workers as the jobs move to Canada in the coming months. 94% of the employees are Caymanian, and the bank said the redundancies reflect that ratio.

The announcement was made public earlier this week but the bank said it had informed employees about the restructuring and redundancies last week.


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Category: Banking & money, Business, Jobs, Local News

Comments (52)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    10 going from Cayman. 94% are Caymanian. Hmm, 94% of 10 is 9.4. How did that get worked out ?

  2. Anonymous says:

    “Halifax provides us with an in-sourced, cost-effective location in which to consolidate teams that serve our businesses in multiple jurisdictions,” the bank said in a statement.

    In plain language – we’re giving Caymanian and Bermudian jobs to Canadians because we can hire them for less, whilst we continue to profit greatly from customers in the islands! BS.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    After dealing with them for months trying to open a corporate bank account I’m surprised it’s not more. And given the debacle with their online banking and call to verify disaster locking corporate customers out of their accounts for days at a time I hope it’s the entire IT department across all the Caribbean that is being outsourced to some competent outfit.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Its not only Butterfield Bank, other Financial Institutions are doing the same. Caymanian jobs are in jeopardy. The Financial Institutions are saying it is cost effective for them, as Cayman prices are much too high. Our Government needs to stop the loopholes, such as Cayman Registered funds should only be administered in the Cayman Islands. These Cayman Registered Funds are now being administered in Halifax, Toronto, Dublin and other Jurisdictions. As a point of notice, most of the Financial Businesses have the Caymanian in the Administration sections of their banks, not the foreigners.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    If its the support centre for online banking, cant move it soon enough. Tired of ringing and no one answers, or they transfer you to VM to someone else who doesn’t answer.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I definitely agree. There is no online support and when Bermuda picks up they cannot really help you.

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  6. Bertie : B says:

    Suggest whomever is moving there that they better google how to use a snow blower . Beautiful little city but damn freezing in the winter as all Atlantic provinces are . But they have a nice Casino there . Enjoy .

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    • Anonymous says:

      Its the positions that are moving to Halifax, not the staff who occupy those positions. So it will be Canadian residents being employed in Canada.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Halifax and the area around the city have been seriously impacted by global warming and climate change the past decade. They even got hit with Hurricane Dorian last week that did a lot of damage in the city.

      The future is getting warmer there.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Remember Scotiabank is exiting 9 Caribbean countries. Not all have been announced. But their footprint is getting smaller and smaller in Cayman. I wonder about them.

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    • Anonymous says:

      If they do, I hope they take my loan with them.

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    • Anonymous says:

      All the Cdn banks, complicit in decades of laundering and US, Cdn, EU tax evasion; abetted by eager Cdn lawyers/accountants/businessmen, and resident smurfs, are under pressure to extract themselves from this “risky and profitable” region, regardless of any PCAMLCTF progress or initiatives the Caribbean might make.

      Ironically, Canada is perceived (by Canadians) to be more advanced in AML risk-control, despite being 10-20 years behind the FATF world in that regard, with FINTRAC fines in complete limbo since 2017. It’s so bad, that the FATF haven’t bothered to update Canada’s Evaluation report card since 2016 (which was terrible).

      https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/canada-ignored-its-gigantic-money-laundering-problem-for-years-and-lawyers-fanned-the-flames

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    • Anonymous says:

      That is for different reasons. Scotia (and many other Canadian banks) are exiting because of loan losses in the Caribbean (mostly commercial loans, not residential).

      If you cant profitably make loans, no point in accepting deposits or maintaining the significant costs are retaining retail bank branches.

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      • Anonymous says:

        That is why First Caribbean (CIBC) giving a commercial loan for 60% of the total financing of the new port, with no guarantees, is mysterious. Can’t believe Toronto CIBC headquarters would permit this loan.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    I’m not surprised they’re having to do this, how can we expect them to be able to cope when all they can do is charge us for interbank online transactions (other banks dont); charge us for online banking; charge us for holding our money; charge us for this, and that; offer outrageous interest deals; build themselves mega temples of worship to finance; sign a mega lease at camana bay; keep buying trust companies in other jurisdictions; continue to gorge themselves on the utterly ludicrous and without any justification for ongoing 80-82-84 Ci-US exchange peg, and so on

    pray for butterfield…hashtag it…whatever

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    • Anon says:

      8.50am They have a 94% Caymanian workforce that must number in the hundreds, remember them. You have a choice and I assume you bank elsewhere. You can always join the queue in Fosters at Western Union and wait for 30 minutes to do a wire transfer which won’t be any cheaper.

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  9. Roger says:

    This GREAT news!!! I’m being rolled over and moving to Halifax!!! Bye Cayman!!

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Eh?

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Maybe they can afford a real online banking system now.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    We worry about the lost of 9 Caymanian jobs.

    Bahamians worry about 2,500 “missing”
    persons.

    Luck of the draw for now…. thoughts like this can be sobering.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Butterfield has had people working remotely for years. Strange that they announced that the jobs were specifically being moved to Canada. I wonder what is different in this case.

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  14. About Time ! says:

    This is great news. I have had so many experiences where my Butterfield card is frozen and i call to get it unfrozen but nobody answers the phone at Butterfield. They assure me there is 24-7 service. But this simply is not true or people are not awake at work to answer the calls. Few times i couldn’t rent a car or check into a hotel because of this.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    Butterfields has an office in that frozen hell?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Had an office there for 15 years – not a bank branch but ‘back office’ roles. Started with fund services (before they sold that division) due to the high cost of staffing those low level jobs here & in Bermuda.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes it may be cold, but its not hell. Quite the opposite actually. Cheaper accommodation and cheaper places to shop for food and clothing etc. Clean and no mouldy smelling buildings. There are good things and bad things about EVERY place in the world!

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      • Anonymous says:

        And a superb education system in Halifax too.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Salaries are extremely low and it’s hell to find a family doctor. The public education there is terrible but that isn’t restricted to Halifax that is all public school systems everywhere around the world.

          • Anonymous says:

            Moved to Grand Cayman from Halifax 3 years ago. My son was in school there. I can assure you that the Halifax public school system is magnificent compared to the Cayman Public School system. Furthermore, can say that overall the Canadian public school system is very good.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yeah, its a real Paris of the north.

        • Anonymous says:

          Only an ignorant fool would compare the size of a city like Halifax to a mega city such as Paris. Bobo the comparables are not there.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Same in theUS for 20 years.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Thanks for your loyalty and for helping us reach new financial heights. Now here is your final cheque and good luck. Sad!

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  18. Say it like it is says:

    94% Caymanian after the loss of 9 Caymanian jobs, that’s a better ratio than our own Civil Service!.

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Hmm one never knows do one. Employees holler if ya get any bad treatment ya hear.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Too expensive to do business here and this traffic is crippling business to do well. Look and see if more businesses will soon follow suit.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Business moving to Canada because of traffic? Lol.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Traffic is just one factor of many why companies are moving. Costs are the major one, however, once the 50 storey building is built in the Seven Mile Beach Corridor one can expect a much larger exodus of white collar jobs. Good thing though is billionaires will move in as they love 50 storey buildings with great views like in Dubai. Future is with overnight tourists, not cheap, low spending cruise ship passengers.

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    • Anonymous says:

      A couple of law firms based in Cayman and Bermuda will be doing the same thing as Butterfield next year. The reality is that the cost of doing business is just getting too high here. Halifax is becoming a major offshore administration center in Canada.

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  21. Anonymous says:

    This is what the last 8 years of constantly increasing costs has come to. It is now cheaper to move white collar jobs to a G7 country than operate in Cayman. Not Mumbai – Halifax. And this is Butterfield – you might expect it from a Canadian bank. So Caymanians are being undercut in the blue collar jobs by imported labour, but the white collar jobs are being exported because it’s just too d—n expensive to keep them here.

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