National Australia Bank has cut jobs belonging to hundreds of Australian workers while adding new roles at “innovation centres” in India and Vietnam.
Staff at the Big Four bank, which made more than $7 billion in profit in the last financial year, were informed of the move in an email at 4.50pm on Thursday, but were not told which jobs were being cut.
A total of 447 jobs will be axed, with 237 roles added in India and Vietnam and 277 in Australia for a net loss of 170 domestic jobs, and the bank said the restructure was part of a long-term effort to modernise its workforce.
“Building a modern workforce that best supports our customers is an important part of our strategy,” a bank spokeswoman said.
“We continue to hire and develop people in Australia, especially in customer-facing roles, to strengthen our capability.”
NAB has Innovation Centres in Gurugram, India, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which is says “are designed to help us run our operations and technology end-to-end in house, as well as to develop deep expertise and leading capabilities”.
In the staff email NAB bank business boss Andrew Auerbach said: “I know that can feel unsettling so I want to start by acknowledging that openly. Everything we do starts with our customers. To support this shift, we have made the decision to expand our global footprint into NAB India and NAB Vietnam.
“Change of this nature is never easy. All impacted colleagues have been notified, and for colleagues who are directly impacted, I know this news will be particularly hard.”
Financial Services Union national president Wendy Streets said NAB should be investing in locals instead of hiring overseas.
“These are ongoing, skilled roles that should remain in Australia, and workers expect greater investment in secure jobs locally,” she said.
“We acknowledge NAB has taken steps to improve redeployment pathways, including longer timeframes and stronger skills assessments, which will make a difference for some affected staff, but those measures do not change the core issue that secure Australian jobs are being reduced at the same time as roles are being created offshore.”
The NAB job cuts come after the Commonwealth Bank axed hundreds of roles in February while launching a hiring spree in India, Westpac announced 1,500 job cuts last year, and ANZ slashed jobs at subsidiary Suncorp in January and announced plans to sack 3,500 workers in September, with 2,100 gone by the end of December.
Header image: NAB CEO Andrew Irvine at the India Innovation Centre. Right, workers at NAB India at an International Women’s Day event (LinkedIn).
