CBA will spend the next fortnight consulting with an unknown number of technology workers whose roles are being reviewed.
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) put the number of impacted roles at 164, however this could not be independently confirmed.
Most – “more than 150” according to the union – are based in the bank’s Eveleigh and Harbour Street sites in Sydney.
According to the union, the bank’s retail technology, chief technology office, institutional banking and markets technology, and business banking technology functions are all impacted.
A breakdown of the specific roles impacted, and their divisional alignment, was not immediately available.
A CBA spokesperson told iTnews that “like all organisations, we regularly review how we are organised to deliver the best experiences and outcomes for our customers.”
“That means some roles and work can change,” the spokesperson said.
“Our focus is on providing our growing team with the right skills for the evolving work. Our priority is always to redeploy or reskill for a new role or opportunity wherever possible.
“We are working closely with every individual to support them with respect and care.”
The bank has about 400 open technology roles.
Citing a CBA “communique”, the union said the internal justification from CBA for the cuts is “simplification” and “enhancing capability”.
“To deliver digital customer experiences faster, we will require enhanced skillsets to support new ways of working,” the bank allegedly told staff.
FSU national assistant secretary Jason Hall said the cuts seemed at odds with public commitments “to digital talent”.
CBA employs over 12,000 people in its technology function, and has a technology budget that typically sits around $1 billion a year, though its spending in the past six months has already eclipsed that.
The bank’s spokesperson noted that the bank “hired 1200 technologists” last year in engineering, cyber security, data science, and architecture domains.