CBA IT staff impacted as bank “retrenches” 251

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has cut an unknown number of IT staff, including data architects and software engineers, as part of a larger round of personnel changes.

In addition to IT, the changes also affect CBA’s business banking and retail banking services divisions, according to the Finance Sector Union.

The FSU alleged that 251 positions have been “retrenched”, with another 822 roles made redundant and 571 workers redeployed across Sydney and Melbourne.

A CBA spokesperson declined to confirm the numbers when contacted by iTnews.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano said it “is hard to believe that the bank can afford to lose so many experienced staff at the same time that it has a significant overwork problem across the organisation.”

“It is unclear how the work of the business banking, IT and retail services can be covered with so many jobs being lost,” Angrisano said.

“CBA staff are concerned that the job losses will lead to further workload problems for remaining staff which will ultimately impact on customers.”

A CBA spokesman told iTnews that “as part of our focus on business improvement, we regularly review the skills we need and how we are organised.”

“That means from time to time some roles and work can change or may no longer be required,” the spokesperson said.

“Where a role isn’t required in its current form we work closely with our people to redeploy them into appropriate comparable roles suitable to their needs.”

The spokesperson added “these decisions are never easy nor are taken lightly.”

“Our priority is to treat every individual with respect and care, taking time to talk with each employee impacted to understand individual circumstances and work with them on finding opportunities and building skills to support them for another role in or outside the bank.”

This past May the bank cut 224 employees which included 38 roles in its innovation arm, x15 venture’s Cheddar online app and 158 jobs cut in the chief operations office and technology divisions.

The same month saw the bank open its fourth technology hub in Australia, an initiative designed to help it recruit tech talent outside of big cities.

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AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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