Pedestrians walk past the logo of National Australia Bank, on display outside a branch in central Sydney, Australia on Nov. 7, 2024. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images
National Australia Bank (NAB), one of Australia’s Big Four, will cut up to 2,500 jobs—about 6 percent of its workforce—over the next year.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (pdf), the bank said up to 1,500 of those roles would go before the end of 2026, with the rest to follow in the financial year ending September 2027.
NAB will also “materially reduce” its use of consultants and outside contractors.
The bank said the cuts came out of a broader review of the kind of workforce it needs, and would leave it better placed to deal with tougher economic conditions, higher customer expectations, strong competition and “rapid technological change.”
The money saved will go towards growing business banking, attracting more deposits and selling more home loans through its own staff.
In the six months to March 31 this year, NAB declared an after-tax profit of $2.75 billion, down 19.3 percent on the same half a year earlier. However, the main reason for the falls was a one-off charge of $949 million after tax ($1.35 billion before tax), which came from a change in how the bank accounts for the cost of its software.
NAB Group CEO Andrew Irvine said the bank’s strategy had not changed.
“We are particularly focused on reducing the size of corporate functions. There will be no material impact to customer-facing banking roles,” he said.
Irvine added that the bank had “deliberately made deeper changes to senior management positions,” which would broaden leadership responsibilities across the bank.
“We know this will be a difficult period for our colleagues impacted by these changes as well as the people around them. We will treat every person with dignity and respect,” he said.
NAB said it would begin talks with staff and the Finance Sector Union, and would offer departing workers the chance to move into other jobs within the bank, retraining, help finding new work, and redundancy pay in line with their employment agreements.
The bank expects to book a one-off cost of about $300 million before tax in the coming financial year to cover redundancies and redeployment.
That compares with about $80 million in each of the past two years. More detail will come when NAB releases its annual results on Nov. 5.
The announcement comes less than a week after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the national unemployment rate at 4.7 percent in September, with 39,000 fewer people in work than the month before.
It is not the major bank’s first round of job cuts in recent times. In September 2025, NAB cut 410 jobs from its technology division, a day after rival ANZ announced it would cut 3,500, according to the Union.
NAB’s announcement follows other signs of workforce change across the banking sector.
