Major bank to cut more than 200 jobs
National Australia Bank (NAB) will cut 222 jobs in a major workplace shake-up, less than a month after posting a quarterly $1.75bn profit.
The redundancies will impact staff in the personal lending, technology, corporate finance and client coverage sectors, the Financial Services Union (FSU) has confirmed.
Hundreds of workers will be redeployed to other sections.
The FSU is consulting with NAB, Australia’s second-largest bank, on the cuts and expressed outrage the redundancies were sweeping through less than a month after the bank’s latest profit haul.
FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said there was also fear more job cuts were coming after NAB’s Q3 trading statement stated it was targeting an additional $400m in cost savings.
“That can only mean more jobs are about to go which has had a devastating effect on staff morale,” she said.
“NAB is already under pressure for creating an internal working environment that requires employees to work excessive and unreasonable hours.
“The FSU has taken NAB to the federal court over employee workloads but this latest round of job cuts has raised concerns that the problem is going to become much worse.”
Ms Angrisano said the bank should invest in education and reskilling programs for those impacted to help provide future career opportunities.
She also said workers had lost faith in the major lender.
“The latest round of EA bargaining demonstrated that our members had lost faith in the NAB,” she said.
“If NAB wants to improve its reputation with its staff it should genuinely engage workers in proper consultation before any announcement of change and impact to jobs.”
An NAB spokeswoman said a decision to implement cuts was “always difficult” but the bank would consult with employees to minimise disruptions.
“When colleagues are impacted, our priority is to consult with affected employees and the FSU, maximise redeployment opportunities, minimise retrenchments, seek and match (as far as possible) employee preferences and ensure our colleagues are supported through the appointment of transition coaches and the employee assistance program,” she said.
The spokeswoman also said the bank operated in a “constantly changing” environment that demanded the right skills, capabilities and structures to support customers.
“This means certain roles may no longer be required or need to be moved to support other teams,” she said.
The NAB cuts follow a wave of redundancies in the financial sector.
In July, Commonwealth Bank announced it would slash 250 jobs and since May, Westpac has axed about 750 jobs.
