Westpac moving 190 Australian jobs from New South Wales, South Australia to the Philippines in offshore move

After reporting bumper profits and saying the company was in good shape, one of Australia’s Big Four banks has confirmed it is sending Australian jobs offshore.

Westpac on Thursday confirmed that 190 jobs from New South Wales and South Australia will sent overseas, staffed by teams in the Philippines.

The 190 Australians who filled those roles now face the risk of unemployment if they can’t be retrained or redeployed into other roles within Westpac Group’s business.

The bank, which made $7b in profit last financial year and just days ago announced a $1.7b quarterly profit, said operation changes happen “from time to time” and that it hopes to assist with “career transition”.

“From time to time, we change the way we operate and this can impact some roles and responsibilities,” the spokesperson said.

“When this happens, we work closely with employees to provide tailored support and assistance with career transition. We try to keep as many employees in the Westpac Group as we can, through retraining and redeployment.”

Westpac Group, which employs over 30,000 Australians, said: “These changes are in head office and operational functions and represent around half a per cent of our workforce.”

The offshoring was slammed by the Finance Sector Union who raised questions over customer security.

“Westpac made $7bn in profit in the last financial year, a result the chief executive officer said would ‘set Westpac up for growth and success’. Is this what ‘growth and success’ looks like for Westpac workers?” FSU National secretary Julia Angrisano told The Australian.

“These are skilled bank workers managing complex commercial relationships and sensitive information. Our members who work at Westpac have told us about their concerns not just for their own jobs, but for customers and the security of their data.”