CBA confirms more than 100 further job losses

On top of the hundreds of other jobs lost in the last few months, CommBank adds another hundred to the tally as the union representative says there is “seemingly no end in sight”.

Following the confirmation of 300 job cuts in retail, business, and institutional banking, human resources, and technology roles in February, the bank has announced its latest firing round with a further 119 jobs to be axed, impacting areas such as home buying, product pricing and analytics, and risk and group strategy.

Also in February, the bank confirmed it would be rolling out its three-year Future Workforce Program, costing $30 million per year, which it called a “structural redesign of how skills are developed and how careers will evolve within Commonwealth Bank”.

“There is ongoing movement through hiring, internal mobility, and recruitment in priority capability areas. We also regularly review the roles and skills we need to deliver the best customer outcomes,” a CBA spokesperson told HR Leader.

“Some roles are shifting, new roles are being created, and some roles are reducing as programs finish, work is simplified, and the mix of roles and skills across the bank evolves.”

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) revealed that 43 of these job cuts will be at Bankwest, including mobile lending managers, who assist customers with the home loan application process.

The union’s national secretary, Julia Angrisano, said: “Still reeling from the 400 job cuts announced mere months ago, CBA employees are now peering down the barrel of another 119 jobs being wiped out, with seemingly no end in sight.”

A recent survey by the union found that nearly three in four of CBA’s workplace and 85 per cent of Bankwest’s workforce are unsatisfied with their ongoing job security.

More than one in two employees at both banks reported considering leaving the bank in the past 12 months due to workload pressures and insecurity, it found.

FSU is negotiating to put job security and protections against offshoring and AI within the new CBA enterprise agreement.

As previously reported by HR Leader, FSU seeks: “No forced redundancies as a result of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) or other similar technologies,” through its FSU CBA enterprise agreement 2026 agenda.

“The new CBA enterprise agreement is an opportunity for CBA to provide the kind of job security the bank can well afford and which employees are crying out for,” Angrisano said.