CANADA LIFE, a pension and investment provider, has made 10 people redundant in its broker/institutional sales division which is responsible for selling the firm's products through its broker channel.

The positions were based in Dublin and in the firm's regional offices.

A spokeswoman for the firm said that the extent of the slowdown in the Irish insurance market since September had led to a detailed corporate review of its Irish operations, and the need to restructure in order to realign resources.

Prior to this Canada Life had been gearing up to double its market share in the Irish market and had built up a sales force to achieve this.

However, while this "made sense when the market was growing", slowing demand meant that the number of roles needed had to be reduced, according to the spokeswoman.

"We had to cut our cloth to suit the market and our budgets," she said.

The move means that the firm has reduced the number of broker consultants it employs by 50 per cent, down from 26 to 13.

Three people have been redeployed, leading to a net redundancy figure of 10.

A new dedicated broker support unit has also been established.

Canada Life employs about 550 people in Ireland.

It distributes its products through a network of over 1,500 independent brokers.