ANZ to slash 1,000 jobs by September

Banking major ANZ today said it will slash around 1,000 permanent jobs in Australia, primarily in middle-management, back-office and support functions level by September this year.

ANZ in a statement said it will cut around 1,000 jobs of its 24,000 strong staff in Australia by the end of this financial year. As many as 492 employees today have already been notified that their jobs are gone.

ANZ employs around 24,000 staff in Australia and 49,000 worldwide.

The job cuts were announced in order to "adapt to the emerging environment for banks worldwide including intense pressure on margins associated with higher funding costs, lower consumer and business demand for financial services, and increasing global regulation".

"A different and very difficult environment is now emerging for banks globally. Just as we are seeing in other parts of the Australian economy, we are also having to adapt our business to the new conditions and become leaner, more agile and more customer-focused so we ensure the bank remains strong and can grow and invest for the future," ANZ CEO Australia Philip Chronican said.

Chronican further said, "We are acutely conscious of the impact of these reductions on individual staff members and we will be making every effort to use natural attrition, to redeploy staff, and to utilise our training funds to support those people affected."

The company said the affected staff will be supported by an expanded package of assistance measures developed with the Federal Government and the Finance Sector Union.

In addition to a continued commitment to support internal redeployment and redundancy entitlements, ANZ's $10 million New Career Training Fund and Past Employee Care Fund will help support affected staff, ANZ said.

Though the job-cuts were primarily in middle-management, back-office and support functions, "changes for customer -facing employees are expected to be minimal", ANZ said.

Further, ANZ will continue to restrain remuneration at the senior management level, an initiative which was announced by the group in late 2011. "For most senior executives, this means salaries will remain fixed for the 2012 financial year," the company said in a statement.

"Although we need to make difficult decisions in the short-term to adapt to the new global environment for banks, the economic outlook for Australia remains positive and this helps underpin our continued investment in customer service and in emerging areas of opportunity," Chronican said.