Westpac is cutting 200 teller roles as part of its shift to a “digital-first strategy”, sparking anger from the Finance Sector Union (FSU), which labelled the move “callous and shortsighted”.
Staff were informed this week that while branch closures are off the table, customer-facing roles in retail banking will shrink. At the same time, the bank is creating 200 new positions in home lending and small business banking, reflecting changing customer preferences and its investment priorities.
Retail banking general manager Damien Macrae said the bank has already begun retraining staff for these new roles. “In the past 12 months, 33 of our people have moved from branches into home finance positions. We expect this number to grow,” he told employees, pointing to a $5 million development fund set aside to support retraining.
The union, however, is unconvinced. National secretary Julia Angrisano argued that workers were being forced to guide customers towards digital services that would eventually cost them their own jobs. “Communities still rely on face-to-face banking. Workers should not be sacrificed for cost-cutting dressed up as innovation,” she said, calling on Westpac to redeploy every affected worker.
The bank maintains its overall workforce remains steady, employing 30,000 staff nationally and hiring 5,000 in the past year. A spokesperson said the reshuffle was part of “actively managing costs and investment” as customer needs evolve.
The cuts follow a broader wave of job losses across the sector. ANZ, NAB, and Commonwealth Bank have all announced redundancies this year, with the FSU estimating nearly 8,000 jobs shed across the big four till mid-September — a 70% increase compared to 2024.