October 31, 2008

As many as 10,000 jobs or eight per cent of the big five's workforce could be shed from the banking industry over the next 12 months as the major banks cut costs and shore up their balance sheets, global consulting firm KPMG says. KPMG head of banking Andrew Dickinson said he expected around 2,000 jobs to be cut from each of the five major banks over the coming year. This follows announcements of significant restructuring programs by ANZ, Westpac and Commonwealth recently.

The big five banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, National Australia Bank, and the soon-to-be-taken-over St George, presently employ around 125,000 globally, according to the Finance Sector Union.” I would expect a couple of thousand per bank, so 10,000 would be my guess," Mr Dickinson told journalists after unveiling the results of KPMG's 2008 performance survey for Australia's largest financial institutions.