National Australia Bank will lay off 410 workers as it restructures its technology and enterprise operations division in the latest round of job-cutting by a big four bank.
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) on Wednesday slammed the bank over the decision, which will affect 728 workers, though the bank said some of these people will move to another area, rather than losing their jobs. The net result of the changes will be 410 redundancies, it said.
NAB is the latest big-four bank to announce job cuts.Credit: Will Willitts
At the same time, the bank is establishing 127 new roles in India and Vietnam to perform work that was previously done in Australia, the union said.
NAB’s job losses come just a day after ANZ Bank chief executive Nuno Matos announced a plan to cut global staff numbers by 8 per cent, a move expected to mainly hit the bank’s Australian workforce of more than 21,000. As part of the sweeping cost-cutting plan, ANZ said it will slash 3500 jobs over the next year, and a further 1000 contractors.
“Two banks in two days slashing jobs, it’s shameful. This isn’t one rogue bank, it’s the whole sector driving the same agenda at the expense of workers and communities,” FSU national president Wendy Streets said.
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A NAB spokesperson confirmed the job losses on Wednesday morning and said having a “global workforce” helped the bank achieve better outcomes for customers, including by taking advantage of timezone differences and by turning around work more quickly for customers.
“Like many businesses, we regularly look at the way we work and how we’re structured to deliver the best experience we can for our customers. The environment we operate in is constantly changing, and we need to have the right structures alongside the right skills and capabilities in the right locations to help us deliver for our customers,” he said.
“These decisions are always difficult, and we understand the impact they can have on our colleagues.”