The Bank of Queensland is set to shed up to 600 staff as part of a ‘simplification and digitisation’ drive.
The announcement comes just a year after the bank, which specialises in lending to regional Queensland, previously announced 250 jobs would go.
It’s understood the latest cuts will span marketing, human resources and retail banking.
Management was reported to be in consultation with the bank’s 3,163 staff regarding the job cuts, The Australian reported.
In April, the bank announced a $172million half yearly profit, which was down by a third from the same period last year but still beat market expectations.
Bank of Queensland chief executive Patrick Allaway admitted the lender was facing a number of economic headwinds to remain profitable including pressure on net interest margins and slowing demand for home loans.
‘We are addressing new pathways and additional initiatives to ensure that we meet those targets,’ he said at the time.
In April, BOQ said it had already automated 43 key processes in six months and reduced the cost per home loan settlement by 6 per cent when compared to the prior corresponding period.
Bank of Queensland is set to shed up to 600 staff across its operations. Pictured are branch ATMs in Brisbane
The bank will soon pause accepting any new home loan customers via the broker channel.
‘We’ll continue to be active in the broker market with ME, which has been consistently recognised by the industry for its quick turnaround times and responsive coverage from a passionate support team,’ the email stated.
‘Our ME brand is our largest in the broker market. We’ll be updating the BOQ broker portal with more details about how to manage any in-flight applications, how to access continued support for new lending for existing customers.
‘We will continue to assess customer needs and market conditions to determine how our brands can support the retail broker channel in the future.’
In April the bank announced a $172million half yearly profit, which was down by a third from the same period last year
Last year, financial crimes watchdog Austrac reprimanded BOQ for having inadequate compliance and risk systems, compelling the bank to make a plan to rectify this.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority which regulates the financial sector, said BOQ had acknowledged its past risk management and risk culture weaknesses
However, APRA said the bank’s remediation plan would need to show a clear timeline for implementation detailing ‘accountable and responsible persons’ for each remediation activity.
In February 2021, BOQ bought ME Bank as a foray into digital only banking.
BOQ said the $1.3billion deal would increase its customer numbers from around 900,000 to 1.45 million with ME’s contributing around 550,000.
According to April’s half-year financial report, ME accounts for around 340,000 of BOQ 1.4 million customers.
This represents a 38 per cent fall in ME’s customer numbers in three years.
