Reports of job cuts at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce are moving beyond customer-service operations, with an anonymous employee now alleging layoffs inside a core technology department days after cuts at the bank’s Halifax contact centre were reported by local media.
A Reddit user identifying themselves as a CIBC technology employee said Monday that workers in their department had been let go, including employees who had spent more than 15 years at the bank. The post did not identify the technology group, number of positions affected, or provide documentation supporting the claim.
The allegation follows SaltWire reporting that employees at CIBC’s Halifax contact centre received layoff notices last week. According to the report, CIBC said workforce changes can occur as it reallocates employees and that it seeks to redeploy affected workers where possible. The bank did not publicly disclose the number of positions eliminated.
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Separate Reddit threads have described restructuring in telephone banking and other functions. One employee said they were given a month to find another internal position after their role was eliminated.
Another thread alleged roughly 40% of contact-centre employees had been affected across Toronto, Montreal, Regina, Halifax, and Fredericton, with some work supposedly shifting to contractors overseas. Neither the 40% figure nor the outsourcing destinations could be independently verified.
A Canadian job listing posted September 12 for a 12-month CIBC Credit Cards CARE contact-centre representative in Halifax also indicates that at least some hiring continues in the operation, making broader claims that all Canadian positions are being replaced overseas unsupported by available evidence.
The reports come shortly after CIBC posted $8.37 billion of third-quarter revenue, up 15% year over year, while reported net income rose 15% to $2.41 billion. Adjusted net income increased 26% to $2.65 billion. CIBC said it was investing in technology and artificial intelligence as part of efforts to modernize operations and improve efficiency, though the bank has not linked those investments to the reported layoffs.
The cuts are also emerging against a softer Canadian labour market. Employment fell by 42,000 in August, including 19,000 fewer jobs among people aged 15 to 24, while youth unemployment stood at 12.9%. Ontario employment declined by 18,000.
