Bank of Queensland axes 48 more financial crime jobs in outsourcing deal
The Finance Sector Union warns BOQ is hollowing out its bank through continued local staff cuts under its outsourcing plan.
Bank of Queensland will dump a further 48 jobs in its financial crime operations team as part of an outsourcing deal with consulting firm CapGemini, under plans that will see 550 staff go.
The cuts come on the heels of BOQ’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, with 200 jobs already outsourced to CapGemini.
Many of these jobs will go offshore under a deal first announced in August.
The Finance Sector Union said the latest round of job losses would deplete specialist compliance teams within BOQ, and comes after a staff survey showed many financial crime employees felt insecure about their roles at the bank.
FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said BOQ was “stripping out” its financial crime teams while “expecting the rest of the bank to absorb the risk and bear the cost”.
“Workers have endured wave after wave of restructuring, with no sign the bank’s executive team intended to restore stability,” she said.
“These cuts don’t just hit jobs, they hit capability, culture and trust. You can’t outsource compliance and still claim you care about customers or staff.”
BOQ shareholders will be called on to approve $1.6m in shares to chief executive Patrick Allaway at their AGM on Tuesday.
Mr Allaway seized control of BOQ after he succeeded former boss George Frazis in November 2022, before appointing himself chief executive in August 2023 after a search failed to find a replacement.
In its notice to shareholders, BOQ’s board noted the grant was aimed at recognising Mr Allaway’s performance, with 30 per cent weighted to customer satisfaction.
But the FSU said BOQ was slashing capabilities when its customers and regulators expected “more, not less”.
Under a string of painful cuts under Mr Allaway, BOQ has shut a number of branches.
Staff numbers are down 9 per cent on levels reported in 2024.
Ms Angrisano said its survey had shown BOQ financial crime staff had reported their job security had worsened since offshoring began.
“You know this isn’t a transformation, it’s a reckoning,” she said.
BOQ has also moved to roll off much of its home lending book, pivoting to business banking in a bid to chase higher returns.
The bank is also migrating its ME Bank customers, picked up after the acquisition of the lender, to BOQ’s digital banking platform.
“The BOQ board must explain on Tuesday: how many roles are left, how they plan to keep regulatory standards, and whether they intend to keep building a bank or just hollowing one out,” Ms Angrisano said.
Originally published as Bank of Queensland axes 48 more financial crime jobs in outsourcing deal
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