BNZ says it is consulting with staff on potential changes to some parts of its business.
“From time to time, we look at how some teams are resourced. Sometimes we recruit and create new roles, other times it may mean some teams get smaller. We are currently consulting on proposed changes in some areas of the business," a BNZ spokeswoman said.
"Because we are in consultation phase, we are not able to share any detail or to speculate on what the proposed changes may be," she added.
The bank has 4,500 permanent full time staff and 760 permanent part time staff.
A spokesman for First Union, the bank workers' union, told interest.co.nz, “We’ve been reassured that our members aren’t affected, but it’s always concerning to learn people could be put out of work.”
First Union represents about a quarter of BNZ's full-time staff.
More broadly, the First Union spokesman said after recent branch closures by ANZ and Westpac, it was "tough watching major banks like ANZ and Westpac, some of the most profitable companies in the country, put people out of work.”
1 Comments
Banks globally have been laying off staff in the 1000's due to the lower returns on the financialised parts of their businesses together with the increasing move away from cash. With the move in an increasing number of countries to negative interest rates the banking community is trumpeting the move out of cash as it is used by criminals (money laundering) and tradesman who then don't pay tax. This is an essential move by the banks to prevent a run on them where it is cheaper (and safer) to keep it 'under the mattress.' Consider the 500 Euro note which is no longer being issued and ongoing talk of doing away with the 100 USA note and even our own 100 note. Staff and cash are becoming a liability for the banks.
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