Commonwealth Bank slashes more than 200 jobs as part of an ‘automation initiative’

The Commonwealth Bank is set to cut its workforce by almost 200 positions this month, adding to the total of more than a thousand job cuts made by the company over the past year, despite making a record profit.

The Financial Sector Union confirmed 192 jobs will be lost from office operations in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth due to an ‘automation initiative’.

The union has specified that of the 192 jobs cut, 87 will come from the bank’s home buying operations division, 47 from consumer finance and 21 from the day-to-day banking team.

The Bankwest subsidiary will also lose nine staff from its lending arm.

National Secretary of the Union of the Financial Sector Julia Angrisano criticized the bank’s actions in light of the data $10.18 billion profit reported for the last financial year.

“It is clear that the CBA has no qualms about throwing workers into the unemployment queue in its relentless campaign to cut costs and increase profits,” Ms Angrisano said.

Ms Angrisano expressed doubt that specialist roles being cut could be adequately replaced by automation at a time when the bank was already struggling to carry out day-to-day operations with the staff it has.

“AQB has a huge problem with staff shortages and excessive workloads and cutting staff does nothing to reduce this concern for workers,” she said.

“It is hard to believe that the bank can afford to lose so many experienced staff at the same time that there is a significant overstaffing problem across the organisation.

Job losses at CBA have come thick and fast in recent months.

In August, the CBA said it would ax 221 back office roles in August to add to the 251 roles abolished in July.

A CBA spokesman said in August that the bank regularly reviewed ‘the skills we need and the way we are organised’.

“This means from time to time certain roles and jobs will change or no longer be required,” he said.

“These decisions are never easy, nor are they made lightly.”

There are about 53,000 bank employees nationwide.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that the job losses were more than offset by the number of people being recruited.

“CBA employs around 50,000 people across Australia and internationally and since 2021 we have recruited more than 10,000 people, reinforcing our position as one of Australia’s largest employers,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesman said that making the roles redundant was just part of ‘focusing on continuous business improvement’.

“These decisions are never easy, nor are they taken lightly,” the spokesman said.

“Our priority is to treat each individual with respect and care, taking the time to speak with each affected employee to understand their individual circumstances and working with them to find opportunities and build capabilities to support them for another role inside or outside the bank.”