Commonwealth Bank Australia cuts 300 jobs as it announces $90m plan for AI-ready workforce

The Finance Sector Union has blasted Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) for cutting 300 jobs, as Australia’s biggest bank announced a $90m plan for an AI-ready workforce.

CBA revealed on Tuesday that its three-year Future Workforce Program would help employees build skills and evolve with the changing nature of work.

A new portal will map every role and show employees what jobs they can move into based on their current skills.

It will also flag skill gaps and highlight training opportunities, including AI learning.

CBA chief Matt Comyn said businesses and staff had to prepare for a future where AI held a bigger role.

“Australia has to get really good at adopting this technology and whatever follows it,” he said.

“This is a topic we have been thinking about for some time.”

Mr Comyn noted the adoption of AI would be uneven across the economy due to its rapid evolution and the different ways it is implemented.

“The impact will be uneven and it’s not certain what the pace will be, but we are trying to get ahead of it,” he said.

The union said the bank should use the program to support workers displaced by the job cuts — just weeks after CBA posted a record half yearly profit of more than $5bn.

It is understood the cuts will affect people in retail, business and institutional banking, and human resources.

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said cutting hundreds of jobs was totally unacceptable and the rollout of AI must not come at the expense of secure jobs.

“For years, we have seen CBA continue to axe hundreds upon hundreds of jobs while raking in billions in profits – we’ve heard countless stories of CBA workers being tossed onto the redundancy pile and having to fend for themselves at the whim of the bank,” she said.

“Which is why our union has fought hard for improved support for workers – stronger protections when AI or new technology is introduced in the workplace and genuine support for workers to retrain and redeploy into other areas of CBA.

“These are the very workers who helped generate CBA’s massive profits. The least the bank can do is retrain and reskill workers, and provide opportunities for them to remain at CBA.”

The redundancies have not been specifically linked to AI, unlike last year when an AI chatbot made 45 roles redundant, prompting a challenge in the Fair Work Commission.