Banking giant Westpac has been accused of ‘dangerous implications’ for customers’ data security with its latest offshoring of Australian jobs to Asia.
Less than a year on from moving hundreds of jobs to the Philippines and India, Westpac is now offshoring almost 200 jobs from NSW and South Australia to the Philippines.
The Finance Sector Union, which represents the Wespac workers, said staff were very concerned about the security implications of the latest job losses.
Around 190 jobs from the bank’s mortgage, institutional banking and customer solutions sections, with FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano shocked the decision came just three months after Westpac said the bank was ‘in very good shape’ financially.
‘Westpac made $7billion in profit in the last financial year, a result the chief executive officer said would “set Westpac up for growth and success”,’ Ms Angrisano said.
‘Is this what “growth and success” looks like for Westpac workers? These are skilled bank workers managing complex commercial relationships and sensitive information.’
She added that FSU members at Westpac told the union about ‘their concerns not just for their own jobs, but for customers and the security of their data’.
A Westpac spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that the bank employs more than 30,000 people across Australia.
Banking giant Westpac has been accused of ‘dangerous implications’ for customers’ data security with its latest offshoring of Australian jobs to Asia. Stock image
‘From time to time, we change the way we operate and this can impact some roles and responsibilities,’ he said.
‘When this happens, we work closely with employees to provide tailored support and assistance with career transition.’
He added that the company tries ‘to keep as many employees in the Westpac Group as we can, through retraining and redeployment.
‘These changes are in head office and operational functions and represent around half a per cent of our workforce.’
Ms Angrisano said Westpac planned to outsource ethical review activity to a company called Concentrix.
‘We’ve seen what can happen when important work goes offshore – something as important as ethics being offshored can create dangerous implications and have flow on effects,’ she said.
The FSU said it will write to the premiers of South Australia and NSW, asking them to try to stop the bank sending jobs from their states to the Philippines.
Westpac is now offshoring almost 200 jobs from NSW and South Australia to the Philippines. Manila airport is pictured
Financial Services Union national secretary Julia Angrisano (pictured) was shocked the decision came just three months after Westpac said the bank was ‘in very good shape’
When jobs were moved abroad last year, Ms Angrisano said ‘Westpac’s strategy of continually outsourcing jobs to external service providers does nothing for staff morale and sends the message that staff need to toe the line or their jobs could be offshored.
‘Instead of running an integrated banking operation, Westpac now looks more like a patchwork of third-party providers.’
A survey published by Money Transfer Comparison revealed that Australian businesses struggling to find staff would send jobs offshore to avoid paying higher wages locally.
The poll of business leaders found more than two-thirds, or 68 per cent, of small and medium enterprises would employ overseas-based staff.
The survey of 200 company directors found a tight labour market to be the biggest obstacle with 21 per cent saying it was too difficult to find staff in Australia, with wages growing at the fastest pace in more than a decade.
The firms suggested they were more likely to look overseas for technical people with specialist IT skills, with 21 per cent nominating this as an area for potential overseas outsourcing.
