CBA job cuts climb to nearly 800 in past 12 months despite ‘swollen’ profits

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has moved to cut another 163 jobs across its customer services roles, bringing its total workforce reductions to nearly 800 over the past year.

After cutting a total of 164 jobs from its technology division just months ago, CommBank has now moved to axe a further 163 jobs, with 105 coming from the CBA and 58 from its Bankwest arm – with the majority of the roles being customer service jobs.

According to the Financial Services Union (FSU), CBA informed its staff of the job cuts within days of posting a $2.6 billion profit in the March quarter – accumulating to a 6 per cent increase on the previous quarter’s profits.

FSU national assistant secretary Jason Hall called out the approach the bank has taken to its job cut announcements despite its “swollen” profits.

“While CBA’s profits have swollen in the past year, they have sacked almost 800 workers in piecemeal announcements, no doubt in the hopes that these smaller job numbers wouldn’t be widely noticed,” Hall said.

“CBA has provided insufficient detail about the latest job cuts to enable genuine consultation. The FSU has written to the bank seeking more information on the rationale for the cuts and the impact on remaining teams.”

The union claims that of the 105 jobs lost, 90 reside in NSW, with the remainder in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, and Queensland. However, over 150 roles have been cut in Western Australia alone this year – which comes after another 350 jobs that were impacted the year prior through CBA’s closure of Bankwest’s retail branch and ATM network in Western Australia.

Overall, the union totalled the job cuts across both the CBA and Bankwest in the last 12 months to almost 800.

“CBA and Bankwest workers deserve job security, but with announcements of job cuts every couple of months, they are instead wondering when and where the next axe will fall,” said Hall.

“These latest cuts are concentrated in customer service roles, which will directly impact CBA customers and communities who have already lost so many bank services.”

“The further cuts at Bankwest are particularly concerning after CBA made a commitment to 500 new roles in WA after its decision to withdraw banking and go completely digital.”

CBA spokesperson claimed that the major bank had hired close to 3,000 staff since the start of the year.

“Like many organisations, we regularly review how we are organised to deliver the best experiences and outcomes for our customers,” the CBA spokesperson said.

“That means some roles and work can change. Our priority is always to redeploy or reskill for a new role or opportunity wherever possible.”

Hall, however, called on the CBA to clarify why these jobs needed to be reduced despite the profit margins the major bank is producing.

“CBA must explain to its workers and customers how it can justify these actions after another quarter of hefty profits,” Hall said.