In a note to the bank’s technology and enterprise operations division last week, chief technology and enterprise operations officer Patrick Wright noted the team would see proposed changes such as centralised teams to “create clearer lines of responsibility and accountability”.
The centralising of teams will increase efficiencies, by allowing them to pool resources and scale up or mobilise resources to where work arises, Mr Wright said.
The changes will also support the roll-out of a new operating model, including setting up divisional CIO teams.
A spokesperson for the bank said the business model overhaul had also required “difficult but essential decisions” with some roles to be deemed no longer necessary and shed. However, they added, some new roles are being created, to support frontline teams.
The bank did not state the net impact – if staff will be reduced or remain at the same numbers.
“As we said when we announced our refreshed strategy in April, we are moving to speed to align our teams to our new operating model, getting the right people in the right jobs and creating new roles so we can support more customers through this difficult period and out the other side,” the NAB spokesperson said.
NAB also indicated in April it would be stopping more than 100 programs to focus on its 19 most important ones.
The Finance Sector Union weighed in, with national assistant secretary Nathan Rees saying banks are “well placed to continue employing Australians”.
“The FSU maintains that current staff should be trained for new jobs and have priority in accessing those new job opportunities,” Mr Rees said.
“Banks know well in advance what their future needs are and they should be providing current staff with the appropriate training and skill development to fill the jobs of the future.”
NAB recently declared it would be slashing opening hours across 114 smaller regional branches, with bankers to split their time between over-the-counter service and digital or phone banking support outside of opening hours.
The changes are set to come into effect from Monday, with the impacted branches to be open from 9:30am to 12:30pm.
NAB reported more than 90 per cent of its customer interactions are now taking place online or by the phone, with over-the-counter transactions declining by a quarter in the past year.
Similarly, ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said during the royal commission that bank branches are becoming “uneconomic”, as his organisation moved to close branches across its network.
Sarah Simpkins
Sarah Simpkins is a journalist at Momentum Media, reporting primarily on banking, financial services and wealth.
Prior to joining the team in 2018, Sarah worked in trade media and produced stories for a current affairs program on community radio.
You can contact her on [email protected].
