Bankwest to axe another 58 roles as owner Commonwealth Bank culls over 160 jobs nationally

Bankwest will swing the axe on another 58 jobs as part of Commonwealth Bank’s latest round of cuts that will see over 160 roles culled nationally.

It’s understood CBA over the past few days informed staff it would axe 163 jobs, including 58 at its subsidiary Bankwest, the century-old lender that last year closed its branch network.

Of the 105 CBA jobs lost, 90 are located in NSW, with the remainder in Victoria, Tasmania, WA and Queensland.

A CBA spokesman told The West Australian the bank regularly reviewed how it delivered the best experiences and outcomes for its customers, meaning some roles and work can change.

“Our priority is always to redeploy or reskill for a new role or opportunity wherever possible,” the CBA spokesman said, adding the bank had hired almost 3000 people since January.

CBA in March cut 164 jobs from its technology division.

The job cuts at Bankwest come less than two months after the WA lender confirmed it was axing the 130-strong “transition team” set up in 2022 to move its business customers across to CBA after the latter’s decision to pull Bankwest out of business banking.

More than 30 of those workers were assured of an ongoing job with CBA in WA, while 90 staff not directly appointed to new roles would “explore new opportunities in the group”.

A Bankwest spokesman on Monday said the latest round of job cuts aimed to accelerate the delivery of digital banking experiences to Australians and primarily involved re-forming teams around customer needs.

It follows a sweeping branch closure that remade Bankwest as a digital-only bank.

“We currently have more than 100 open roles in WA, and we will work with individual colleagues to access our comprehensive re-skilling programs and explore new career pathways with the CBA group,” the Bankwest spokesman said.

Finance Sector Union national assistant secretary Jason Hall said the additional cuts at Bankwest were particularly concerning after CBA’s assurance it would create 500 new jobs in WA to support Bankwest’s conversion to a digital-only bank.

“Now these latest round of Bankwest cuts mean CBA has slashed almost 150 Bankwest jobs since the start of the year,” he said.

“CBA and Bankwest workers deserve job security but with announcements of job cuts every couple of months, they are instead wondering when and where the next axe will fall.”

The FSU in March said it would seek an urgent meeting with WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti to voice concerns over the job cuts and the redeployment process.

It said the Treasurer’s office had committed to raising these issues with CBA.

Speaking to The West earlier this year, Bankwest managing director Jason Chan said the future of the 130-year-old institution looked “very bright” and declared the bank was “here to stay”.

Mr Chan at the time did not divulge how many customers were lost following the mass closure but said the number was “not significant”.