Westpac plans to cut some 200 jobs.
The major bank sent a letter out to employees on Tuesday saying it plans to eliminate roughly 200 positions, among them tellers and personal banking, while adding in approximately the same number of roles in home and small business lending.
"Over the coming year, we will appoint around 200 more lenders and bankers to achieve our home lending and small business ambitions," Damien MacRae, general manager for retail banking, said in the letter. "At the same time, we will need around 200 fewer tellers and personal bankers' roles in retail banking.
"This year we’ve invested in our digital first strategy to support our customers’ changing needs and our digital citizens' focus,” he added. "We’re making these investments because we recognise the nature of the work we do is changing."
To do that, Westpac is advancing its "digital-first" strategy at the start of the 2026 financial year by investing roughly $200 million during the course of the next three years to update its app, ATMs and branches, alongside an additional $5 million allocated for staff training.
"Because of the investments we’re making, we’ve already started upskilling our people," MacRae said in the note. "In the past 12 months, we have seen 33 of our people take the next step in their career by moving from our branches to become a home finance manager. We expect this number to grow."
A Westpac spokesperson added in an email to Australian Broker that the bank periodically adjusts its workforce structure according to its investment priorities, and that there have been "no net change in job numbers" in the last year.
"Westpac is a major Australian employer, with more than 30,000 people across the country. In the last year we hired almost 5,000 people in Australia," the spokesperson said. "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. We try to keep as many employees in the Westpac Group as we can, through retraining and redeployment.”
But the Finance Sector Union (FSU) denounced Westpac for its decision, warning that the move would "strip away vital face-to-face services."
"We've already heard of 1,500 job cuts leaked earlier this year. These cuts show Westpac is disguising a jobs cull as a digital transformation," said FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano. “Westpac is asking loyal tellers to migrate customers to digital services that ultimately eliminate their own jobs. It’s callous and short-sighted."
The major bank first revealed plans in May to cut more than 1,500 jobs as part of chief executive officer Anthony Miller's restructuring efforts. The move was aimed at optimizing operations and lowering expenses.
Westpac’s recent announcement comes amid a wave of workforce reductions across Australia’s banking sector. Earlier this month, ANZ announced plans to slash approximately 3,500 jobs in the next year under the leadership of new CEO Nuno Matos. Additionally, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Bendigo Bank have both disclosed intentions to reduce staff through redundancies.
