By Chris Zappone
WESTPAC is cutting hundreds of jobs, mostly in Sydney, as part of efforts to cut costs as lending slows.
The nation's second biggest bank also escalated a program of sending jobs overseas to countries where costs are lower, opening the way for rival banks to follow suit.
The Finance Sector Union said yesterday that 560 mostly technology and administration jobs were to go at Westpac. It marked the latest round of job cuts to hit the sector this year.
A spokeswoman for Westpac said the decision to cut jobs was difficult, but disputed the numbers circulated by the union. She said some staff affected would be moved to other areas of the bank.
''The real number of people directly affected is a lot less and is expected to be between 300 and 400,'' she said. ''We will minimise the impact on the people affected by reskilling or redeploying people and using natural attrition and reducing contractors.''
She said Westpac had created jobs in some areas, such as at the Bank of Melbourne, which is still opening branches, while adding 560 jobs in Adelaide as the bank took in-house a service that had been outsourced.
Banks are grappling with a high cost base built up over the past decade as credit growth was booming. But since the global financial crisis, demand for lending has slowed as households reduce debt levels.
Analysts from UBS have tipped that as many as 7000 banking jobs may be shed in Australia in the next two years. ANZ is also in focus with expectations it could slash up to
1000 roles as it also contends with weaker demand for loans.
The union national secretary, Leon Carter, said that of the Westpac jobs to be cut, about 150 lending operations jobs would be sent overseas.
The remaining 400 jobs were to be chopped from primarily backroom processing and support roles over the next two to four months.
''From our point of view, it's completely pathetic that an organisation that continues to make a multibillion-dollar annual profit thinks the only way through difficult times is to sacrifice Australian jobs on the altar of making more money,'' Mr Carter said.
Westpac has been cutting jobs since the end of last year. Yesterday's staff briefings follow its decision to review 28 IT management roles in its BT Financial Group and Westpac Institutional Bank as part of a restructure announced in November.
BusinessDay also understands that Westpac's business equipment finance division is one area affected, with those jobs to be sent overseas.
Westpac is one of the nation's biggest finance sector employers with more than 33,800 staff.
with Eric Johnston