The Bank of Bermuda plans to reassign its call centre staff to other parts of the business after announcing plans to outsource the operation to Canada.

The bank said last year it would be moving its call centre to Markham, Ontario in a bid to improve and expand its customer service, including 24-hour, seven-day a week debit and credit card support.

But it has been working with those staff affected to relocate them within the organisation, aiming to keep on the majority of the employees in new roles.

A Bank of Bermuda spokesperson said: "Bank of Bermuda announced last year that it would be moving its call centre to Canada. We recognised there was a need to provide enhanced and extended-hour customer service support to our clients, especially as it relates to debit and credit card services.

"Moving the call centre to Markham, Ontario will allow us to provide 24/7 debit and credit card support. In the future, we hope to increase the number of services that benefit from 24/7 call centre support and the call centre in Markham will provide us with the flexibility to do this.

"We have spent the last year trying to ensure that the transition to the call centre in Markham is as smooth as possible. During this time we have also worked with affected staff to identify new opportunities and roles within the Bank of Bermuda. We continue to relocate staff to other roles and are hopeful to retain the majority, if not all of the staff affected."