Commitment to broker partners continues, says bank
Australia’s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, has responded to reports that over 200 jobs are on the line, saying that respect and care for staff is a priority. The bank has confirmed that no cuts will be made to customer-facing staff.
According to the Finance Sector Union, the bank is cutting 251 jobs across its technology, retail banking and business banking operations, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Wednesday.
CBA cut more than 200 jobs two months’ ago the publication reported, which it said was timed with rising interest rates and low bad debts benefiting the bank’s bottom line.
A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told the Herald that there had been discussions about job cuts and did not dispute the possibility of 251 positions being affected.
In a statement provided to MPA on Monday afternoon, a CBA spokesperson acknowledged that the bank employed around 50,000 people across Australia and internationally.
Since 2021, Commonwealth Bank had recruited over 10,000 people, reinforcing its position as “one of Australia’s largest employers”.
“As part of our focus on business improvement, we regularly review the skills we need and how we are organised,” the CBA spokesperson said.
As a result, some roles and work can change, or may no longer be required, they said.
“Where there are roles that are no longer required in their current form, we work closely with our people to redeploy as many as possible.”
Acknowledging that decisions around job cuts were “never easy or taken lightly”, the spokesperson said that the bank’s priority was to treat every individual with “respect and care”.
CBA would take the time to talk with each employee affected by the changes to understand their individual circumstances and work with them on finding opportunities and building their skills to support them for another role within or outside the bank.
“There are no reductions to customer-facing team members who serve our customers in branch, on the phone or online,” the CBA spokesperson said.
“We remain committed to working with our broker partners to continue to deliver outstanding experiences and outcomes for our joint customers.”
Commonwealth Bank recently announced a change to clawback rules for all new applications submitted on and from October 1.
