new computer equipment is brought on line.

Bank of Butterfield chairman Sir David Gibbons, made the revelation as he discussed the need for Bermuda's labour force to be restructured at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast speech at the Princess Hotel yesterday.

The bank has already axed a significant number of jobs, but Sir David said that they were able to re-train some staff, while other jobs disappeared through attrition. He commented on the significant effect job losses have on families.

He said: "The winds of change bring tremendous opportunities but they also wreak havoc on many families and businesses alike.'' And while jobs disappear, people do not, he said.

"The smartest, most successful companies in the world are engaged in painful restructuring -- restructuring driven by changing patterns of trade, massive competition, and the development and deployment of new technology: computers, Internet, and global communications,'' he said.

"No business, or country, Bermuda included, is immune from the pressures of competition.

"At the Bank of Butterfield, our restructuring began at the top. We will be proposing a substantial downsizing in our corporate board of directors in order to sharpen our international position.

"At the same time, we will create a special board to ensure an appropriate focus on our resident market. At other levels, implementing new technologies has, and will continue to have, an effect on employment.

"Today, we have 40 percent fewer tellers as a result of the introduction of credit cards, ATMs, EDI and home banking services.'' He said that even in his private family business, Gibbons Company, where there were 28 cashiers some years ago, today, there are none.

In the retail sector, fewer cashiers are needed, while book-keepers are "practically superfluous''.

But he emphasised that while at Gibbons Company and the bank, there were longstanding efforts underway to re-train staff and accommodate others, resources for wholesale retraining of the workforce were limited.