A Bermudian-based insurance company announced that 11 jobs will be made redundant at the end of the year.

A spokeswoman for Allshores confirmed that “specific positions”, including administrative and some within pensions, are being automated or supported externally.

Allshores was unveiled in December, more than a year after local insurance companies Argus and BF&M announced plans to merge and form a new business.

A former Argus employee, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed that the “entire pensions department” at Allshores learnt earlier this year that their jobs would be outsourced to Canada.

He said between 25 and 30 people, mostly Bermudians, were working in pensions at Argus when he retired about ten years ago.

The source explained: “To my recollection, I don’t think any of the people who were let go were given a job in Canada.”

He claimed that outsourcing at Argus began years before the merger was announced and that Bermudian jobs have been contracted overseas since HSBC acquired Bank of Bermuda in 2004.

The man said: “Outsourcing to a cheaper domicile was always part of globalisation, these companies are trying to lower their costs, in other words de-risk their balance sheet, and in turn, make more money.

“Outsourcing is never an advantage to the company it’s happening to, because it’s affecting people’s lives.

“Employment is such a vital thing, and it brings such stress and anxiety when there’s upheaval in that area — this is exactly what has happened.”

Responding to queries from The Royal Gazette, the company spokeswoman said: “Allshores continues to carefully assess how we can modernise and improve our services.

“Our goal is to improve the client experience, simplify service delivery and drive better outcomes for the people we serve.

“Like many organisations, we are modernising our administrative processes through technology and specialised service partnerships.

“Specific positions are being phased out this year, including some in our pensions operations, where certain manual processes and administrative functions are being automated or supported externally.”

The spokeswoman added that Allshores had created 20 new roles in Bermuda in areas “that are increasingly important to our future strategy and customer offering”.

She explained: “These include advisory-focused, customer engagement, financial literacy, retirement readiness, wellness and financial resilience.”

The spokeswoman encouraged staff affected by the outsourcing to apply for new opportunities with the company, which she said will “continue to support re-skilling, redeployment and transition initiatives wherever possible.”

The comments come months after the company announced that clients would be able to get certain high-cost prescription drugs only from Phoenix pharmacies.

This announcement sparked concerns from the Bermuda Medical Doctors Association, independent pharmacy owners and the Ministry of Health.

After discussions with the ministry and Bermuda Health Council, Allshores postponed these restrictions until June 1.