Australia’s ANZ plans to cut 170 business banking jobs —union

A pedestrian is reflected in the window of a branch of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) in central Sydney, Australia, October 25, 2017. REUTERS/Steven Saphore/File photo

SYDNEY  —Australia’s fourth-biggest bank ANZ Group plans to cut 170 jobs at its commercial banking operations, a workers’ union said on Tuesday.

Australian banks have been shedding jobs as they look to automate their businesses and make use of technology to reengineer back-office operations.

ANZ did not confirm the number of job cuts but said that headcount changes would allow it to support more customers across branches and digital platforms, and that it remained committed to investing in data and technology.

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A bank spokesperson said ANZ was confident many of the employees concerned will find alternative roles within the group.

Wendy Streets, national president of the Finance Sector Union, criticized the bank, saying it was just focused on profits.

“ANZ made a profit of A$7 billion last year and we can’t understand why it wants to push staff out the door,” she said in a statement.

ANZ had total headcount of 40,000, according to its last annual report.

The bank this week said first-quarter group revenue was in line with the quarterly average of first-half revenue for fiscal 2023 – a year when it made record annual profit.