(Reuters) -Commonwealth Bank of Australia confirmed on Tuesday it is cutting 45 jobs as part of a shift toward using artificial intelligence to handle certain tasks, prompting a union to accuse the bank of excluding workers from the evolving economy.
CBA, the country’s biggest lender, said it is currently investing more than A$2 billion ($1.30 billion) in its operations, including frontline teams and technology services, due to which “some roles and work can change”.
Australia’s Finance Sector Union (FSU) has accused CBA of axing frontline roles in favour of automation and offshoring. In a statement, the union claimed that a total of 90 roles were being eliminated, including 45 positions in the bank’s direct banking system.
According to the FSU, these jobs were cut following the introduction of a new voice bot system on the bank’s inbound customer enquiries line in June.
“We’re also proactively creating new roles to support career growth and help our people transition into future-fit opportunities,” CBA said.
The bank said it is consulting on the affected roles and looking at other internal jobs and reskilling opportunities for its people, while it denied offshoring jobs as per the FSU’s claim.
($1 = 1.5328 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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