NAB workers face contest for remaining roles under job cuts
The bank plans to eliminate 2,500 positions by June, including 1,500 before Christmas, with corporate staff most affected.
Employees at National Australia Bank say a restructure will require whole teams to apply again for a reduced pool of jobs. The planned loss of 2,500 roles amounts to about 6 per cent of the bank’s workforce.
Workers who spoke anonymously raised concerns about offshoring and greater use of AI. One employee with a decade in NAB’s technology team said his team had two weeks of consultation, with departing staff due to finish on either 2 December or 17 December.
A leaked staffing plan for that team proposes reducing its headcount from just under 500 to 400 by the 2027 financial year. Under the plan, Australia’s share of the team would fall to 40 per cent from 53 per cent, while the proportions in India and Vietnam would grow.
NAB put the estimated restructuring bill at about A$300 million. It said the changes aimed to make operations simpler and direct its workforce towards growth and customer technology initiatives. It declined to comment on the workers’ claims.
Robert Half recruiter Clinton Marks said cost-cutting and restructuring appeared to be stronger drivers of banking redundancies in 2026 than direct AI replacement. He said he had not yet seen the technology replacing workers.
Nicole McPherson, national assistant secretary of the Finance Sector Union, condemned the timing ahead of Christmas and said the cuts would deepen staff anxiety. In a message to employees, NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine encouraged colleagues to look out for each other and indicated affected workers would receive support.
