ANZ announces job cuts
(16 January 2012 – Australia) ANZ announced last week it plans to cut 700 jobs, sparking a warning that thousands of jobs are at risk in the finance sector.
This comes on top of cuts of 2150 jobs between March 2009 and last September in ANZ's Australian division. ''We have run a policy of shedding jobs through attrition since October last year,'' an executive said.
Experts say thousands of jobs will be lost from the industry this year as banks scramble to adjust to an era of low credit growth and higher funding costs.
As well as ANZ, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) also announced plans to close its investment banking business, leading to the loss of more than 200 jobs in Australia.
The national secretary of the Finance Services Union, Leon Carter, criticised the bank for shedding jobs when it had record profitability. ''Yet again the first time anything gets tough in finance the only trick in their locker is to put jobs on the line,'' he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
''It continues to be a highly profitable organisation that is making multibillion-dollar profits. They have an obligation to keep everybody employed.''
At the start of 2007 Australia's banks, excluding ANZ Asia, employed 155,000. Four years later that figure had grown to 178,000.
In ANZ alone, the number of employees in the group's global operations increased by 12,000 since September 2008, from 36,900 to 48,900.
But ANZ's Australian division has shed more than 2100 jobs in the past two years - from 19,922 to 17,768 - as it sends more jobs offshore.
Experts say banks will be forced to cut staff for the next few years to protect profit margins. The high levels of consumption and lending they enjoyed in recent years will not continue.
Experts say thousands of jobs will be lost from the industry this year as banks scramble to adjust to an era of low credit growth and higher funding costs.
As well as ANZ, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) also announced plans to close its investment banking business, leading to the loss of more than 200 jobs in Australia.
The national secretary of the Finance Services Union, Leon Carter, criticised the bank for shedding jobs when it had record profitability. ''Yet again the first time anything gets tough in finance the only trick in their locker is to put jobs on the line,'' he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
''It continues to be a highly profitable organisation that is making multibillion-dollar profits. They have an obligation to keep everybody employed.''
At the start of 2007 Australia's banks, excluding ANZ Asia, employed 155,000. Four years later that figure had grown to 178,000.
In ANZ alone, the number of employees in the group's global operations increased by 12,000 since September 2008, from 36,900 to 48,900.
But ANZ's Australian division has shed more than 2100 jobs in the past two years - from 19,922 to 17,768 - as it sends more jobs offshore.
Experts say banks will be forced to cut staff for the next few years to protect profit margins. The high levels of consumption and lending they enjoyed in recent years will not continue.
Subscribe