Workers to rally outside ANZ Melbourne headquarters to protest looming 3500 job cut cull

Protest anger will hit ANZ on Tuesday, as workers rally against the big bank’s looming 3500 job-cut cull.

The rally is booked for the bank’s Melbourne headquarters and coincides with chief executive Nuno Matos’ pitch to investors on Monday promising a simpler, more profitable enterprise out to 2030.

“Nuno told investors the bank was entering a new era of clarity and accountability. Today, workers stand outside the bank because they’ve been met with chaos and secrecy instead,” Finance Sector Union national president Wendy Streets said.

“Workers found out their jobs were gone through news alerts on their phones – not through honest consultation from management. That’s far from accountability, it’s betrayal … this is one of the most profitable banks in the world, yet it’s cutting thousands of jobs.”

ANZ, one of Australia’s “big four” banks, announced the dramatic job cull on September 9, saying it expected about 3500 employees to depart the business by September 2026.

Mr Matos said then the restructure was designed to eliminate “duplication and complexity”.

In a fresh update to investors from Monday, Mr Matos outlined the bank’s priorities out to 2030 and said a simpler organisational structure and operating model could “radically improve productivity”.

“This is already reflected in our announcement that we will reduce 3500 roles by September 2026 as well as a further 1000 managed service contractors,” he said.

“Around 60 per cent of the (impacted) ANZ roles are from Group Technology and Australia Retail, as we merge two teams and streamline support function. The remaining roles come from consolidating middle-office roles across the whole organisation.

“There will be very limited impact on frontline roles in branches, contact centres, RMs and in customer support.”

The $110bn bank expects the restructure to deliver an estimated $800m in cost savings.

Ms Streets said the bank could not simplify its operations by “destroying livelihoods”.

“You can’t build a simpler or stronger bank by destroying livelihoods,” she said.

“If ANZ wants to talk about accountability, it can start with telling workers the truth.”

The FSU lodged a complaint with the Fair Work Commission over the cuts in mid-September, alleging the bank has not properly consulted with the union.

An ANZ spokesman told NewsWire the bank believed it had met its “consultation obligations”.

“ANZ has consistently engaged with our staff and the union on our proposed organisational changes,” the spokesman said.

“We are confident we have met all of our consultation obligations.”

In the six months to March 31, ANZ delivered net profits of $3.64bn, a 16 per cent lift over the prior period, while revenues jumped 5 per cent to nearly $11bn.