The Federal Government needs to review all bank licensing arrangements to ensure that Australia’s major banks maintain back office jobs in the country.

The offshore race to the bottom is clearly intensifying with ANZ and Westpac seemingly happy to jettison their respective banks’ whole back office functions to India.

ANZ’s Mike Smith told The Australian newspaper on 24 April that “I hope to move much of the straight-through processing and really start to build stuff like the internet bank channel and electronic channels. So your back office disappears anyway.”

This follows the earlier announcement by ANZ to send 500 New Zealand jobs offshore.

And today’s revelations that Westpac plans to send more than 3000 back office jobs to overseas locations such as India over the next three years, is a further heavy blow to the Australian finance industry.

Any such move by the major banks to carve up back office jobs will hollow out the Australian finance industry, leaving a nation of bank shop fronts.

Regrettably, it doesn’t end there. St.George are continuing to review their 1000 back office functions, the National Australia Bank has its back office under review, Suncorp has some 2000 jobs under review and not surprisingly everyone else is saying they will have to conduct reviews and offshore in order to remain competitive.

FSU is calling on the new Rudd Government to take on our employers and ensure they invest in Australian jobs and skills. Amending bank licensing arrangements would be a step in the right direction.

Get on board the fight for Australian jobs and help FSU keep the pressure on the industry and government:
• Talk to your local politician about the issue
• Tell us your experience of offshoring on our forum, click here
• Sign up everyone in your workplace to the union.