Australia’s big banks have axed over 5000 roles in 2025

Homeowners could suffer the brunt of further jobs cuts, announced by big four bank Westpac.

On Wednesday, Westpac announced it would cut 200 bank teller jobs – which the finance union and customer advocates fear could affect the bank’s ability to service customers.

Including those who have a mortgage with the bank.

The move brings to about 1700 jobs Westpac has sliced from its payroll this year alone, after it announced 1500 job cuts in May.

It brings to more than 5000 the roles axed by Australia’s big banks this year.

Westpac said the move was part of its ‘digital-first strategy’.

It claims the teller job losses will be offset by adding 200 bankers to its home lending and small business units.

“We’re making these investments because we recognise the nature of the work we do is changing,” Westpac retail banking general manager Damien Macrae said.

“We adjust the composition of our workforce according to our investment priorities. While we continue to invest in extra bankers, other areas may need fewer resources.

“This means from time to time we make changes that may impact some roles and responsibilities as we actively manage costs and investment. As the skills and capabilities required in banking continue to evolve, so will our workforce.”

Finance Sector Union national secretary, Julia Angrisano, said the cuts would affect the services Westpac provides to its customers.

“Communities still rely on face-to-face banking and workers should not be sacrificed for cost-cutting dressed up as innovation.”

The latest cuts are part of a wave of jobs losses across Australia’s banking sector.

Last month ANZ said it was cutting 3500 staff plus 1000 contract roles over the coming year, while NAB said it was axing 400 jobs.

The Commonwealth Bank has cut more than 160 jobs in 2025.

Bank job cuts come back to haunt homeowners

Bank industry job cuts and other cost-savings have been blamed for spawning a broken system that saw dead customers charged fees and struggling Aussies left high and dry for years.

It comes as Australia’s banking elite was this week put on notice after ANZ was fined $240 million by corporate watchdog ASIC for various cases of misconduct alleged to have affected 65,000 customers.

The fines followed revelations ANZ left hundreds of vulnerable clients waiting up to two years for responses to hardship pleas.

ANZ reportedly then went after some of the same customers whose hardship pleas were left unanswered for payments – in some cases serving default notices or engaging debt collection agencies to recover debts, ASIC said.

MORE: Suburbs where mortgage stress is hitting hardest

The major bank was also alleged to have made false and misleading statements about savings interest rates and was accused of failing to pay promised rates to thousands of customers.

ANZ was further accused of failing to refund charges to thousands of deceased customers, according to ASIC.

The misconduct had occurred over many years, ASIC said. ANZ chair Paul O’Sullivan has since issued an apology to customers over the reported issues.

Banking industry experts said these incidents could be deeply rooted in a cost-cutting culture that has spread across the lending sector, with multiple banks recently announcing significant workforce cuts.

Westpac has reportedly cut around 1000 jobs this year. Bendigo Bank announced in July 10 branch closures across three states and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) cut 45 call centre jobs after rolling out an AI chatbot for customer inquiries.

The Finance Sector Union said the ANZ failures were the consequence of a “slash and burn agenda” prioritising job cuts and cost savings, pointing to plans to cut 3,500 ANZ jobs as an example of the industry climate.

“Cutting back office support functions will have an inevitable flow on effect to frontline employees and service delivery to bank customers and communities,” said FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano.

“You can’t cut 3,500 employees (14 per cent of the ANZ workforce) and expect there not to be any impact on services and customers.”

It should be noted that ANZ misconduct dated to incidents before the recent job cuts and the bank has claimed frontline roles will be protected.

But Ms Angrisano said job cuts would make the job of supporting customers “significantly harder”.

“(ANZ) has said these cuts are about ‘reducing duplication’, but that is simply code for intensifying workloads and expecting fewer people to do more,” she said.

The FSU is taking ANZ to the Fair Work Commission over the latest job cuts.

ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said banks had long been warned about their level of support for customers facing hardship.

She pointed to 2023 and 2024 reports that showed lenders didn’t make it easy for customers to give a hardship notice and didn’t effectively communicate with customers about their options.

The ASIC review of 10 large home loan lenders also found vulnerable customers often weren’t well supported.

“In 2023 we wrote to the CEOs of lenders reminding them of their hardship obligations and in May 2024, we followed up and put the industry on notice with the release of our hardship report.

“(The report) found some lenders were failing their obligations to support customers experiencing financial hardship.

“Since 2023, we have taken multiple lenders to court for hardship failures such as Westpac, Resimac, NAB and most recently ANZ – it is simply not good enough.

“It is a failure to meet obligations to their customers, many who are experiencing difficult circumstances.

“Whilst we have seen some uplift in standards across the industry, it is clear that there is still much work to do.”

Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said those struggling to resolve a dispute with their banks should contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, or AFCA.

She also suggested those in hardship call the National Debt Helpline, which offers free financial counsellors.

Ms Tindall added that it was not in banks’ interest for homeowners to lose their properties.

“Banks don’t want to see customers go into default and typically will work closely with customers to see if there’s a way forward,” she said. “After all, repossessing a home is a hugely costly exercise for them, where they ultimately lose a customer.”

ANZ CEO Nuno Matos said in a statement released on Monday that the business was seeking to make changes.

“Unfortunately, some of our failings occurred when our customers were at their most vulnerable. For this we are deeply sorry, and we are making changes to better support our customers when they need us most. We have in place customer remediation programs for the issues announced (Monday).

“It’s clear we have issues within Australia Retail, particularly around our management of non-financial risk (NFR). This is why we are making changes to this business to improve its focus on core priorities and to make it safer for customers.

“We have fast-tracked work to significantly improve our management of non-financial risk across the ANZ Group.”

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