ANZ, Australia's fourth-biggest bank by market value, will dismiss 58 staff within its financial planning division due to a significant drop in demand for investment advice.
"Given the significant drop in demand for investment advice we have had to review our numbers of financial planners and reduce the number of roles by around 10 per cent, which will mean 58 employees will be affected," an ANZ spokesperson told InvestorDaily.
"We have tried to sustain planner numbers for some time in the face of the downturn, however it's now clear that the changed investor behaviour is going to be sustained for some time and we have had no choice but to reduce the size of our planner group."
ANZ remains committed to the growth of its wealth business with around 300 financial planner roles to remain ongoing, the spokesperson said.
Old Mutual, Putnam Investments Australia, Principal Global Investors, Charter Hall and UBS Global Asset Management were among the firms which announced redundancies in the first quarter.
The impact of the market downturn forced MLC to cut 120 jobs, a company spokesperson said in January.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) retrenched around 200 staff in underperforming divisions and others that were not expected to perform in the next year or two, CBA chief executive Ralph Norris said in February.
CBA-owned Bankwest said on 30 March it would reduce its workforce by about 400 in response to the sharply contracting economy.
Finance Sector Union national secretary Leon Carter said on the same day Australian bank staff and taxpayers were "beyond outraged" at the lay-offs, as the sector basked under the Federal Government's three-year deposit and term wholesale funding guarantee.
