Australia's ANZ is cutting 70 positions from its wealth management arm, the firm has told WealthBriefingAsia, (sister website to this publication).

This news comes following the announcement made this week by Australia’s Finance Sector Union that ANZ advised 131 employees their jobs will be off-shored to India in coming months. 

ANZ said the majority of the impacted roles are based in Sydney and are mainly back-office type positions. It added that affected staff members will have access to support services and be able to apply for other roles within the bank.

“These changes reflect the need to simplify our business given the more subdued economic environment and to ensure our customers are supported,” a spokesperson for ANZ told this publication in an emailed statement.

Cost cutting

ANZ recently reported a 6.2 per cent jump in net profit for the period ending 31 December 2012, with the group’s chief executive, Mike Smith, saying: “Initiatives to manage costs and margins helped to sustain a good performance in the Australia division.”

According to FSU, the jobs targeted for off-shoring involve administration of the pension funds of high net worth individuals. The bank advised the organisation that the off-shoring proposition is designed to “minimise duplication and bureaucracy and improve our business resilience.”

At an investor briefing held in November last year by ANZ’s chief executive for private wealth management, Joyce Phillips, she cited cost-cutting as an important topic for the bank. However, she also spoke of investing $80 to A=$100 million per year into the bank, for the next five years.

The APAC region was named a central part of its growth strategy, Phillips said: “On a global basis, wealth is rapidly shifting to Asia Pacific - in five years, from 2011-2016, our region’s share of private wealth will increase from 19 to 27 per cent. This clearly represents a tremendous opportunity to leverage ANZ’s regional presence and in particular, to create a strong regional private bank.”