Tech jobs to go in Westpac cuts

Westpac is back in job cuts mode, yesterday consulting with staff and the Finance Sector Union (FSU) about the latest round of redundancies and redeployments that ZDNet Australia can now reveal are set to hit back-office technology operations staff.

(That's not an axe image by Kelly Teague,
CC BY-SA 2.0)

Reports emerged late yesterday afternoon that the bank had informed the FSU of impending cuts. The bank told ZDNet Australia that the cuts will be in the magnitude of 400 staff from Westpac's head office, technology and operations division.

Westpac wouldn't confirm which teams are set to lose staff, but did say that it would work as hard as it could to ensure that those headed for the axe would be looked after.

"We will minimise the impact on the people affected by re-skilling or redeploying people, and using natural attrition and reducing contractors," Westpac said in a statement.

The bank said that job losses and redeployments are never an easy process, adding that it's trying to be respectful during this time.

"These are not easy decisions to make and we will treat the people who are affected by these decisions in a respectful and principled way," Westpac said.

Westpac put 28 IT management roles under consideration mid-last month as part of its job review. The staff were situated in the Westpac Group-owned BT Financial Group and Westpac's Institutional Bank.

These job reviews come after a massive restructure last year that saw the creation of a new Group Services division.

Two of the bank's senior technologists left their posts during the restructure, with chief technology officer Sarv Girn departing the organisation and chief information officer Bob McKinnon moving up alongside newly appointed chief operations officer, John Arthur, to run the newly restructured services arm. Clive Whincup stepped into McKinnon's old role in late November last year.

Westpac has told ZDNet Australia that Arthur and Whincup will update the press on the bank's future technology plans in coming months.