ANZ Layoffs: Banking Group Plans To Cut 3,500 Staff Over Next Year On CEO Revamp

ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. expects 3,500 employees to leave the bank by September 2026 as part of a wide-ranging revamp under new Chief Executive Officer Nuno Matos.

ANZ also plans to reduce engagements with consultants and other third parties, which will impact around 1,000 contractors, the lender said in a statement Tuesday. The changes are designed to “simplify the bank” and “strengthen its focus on its priorities,” according to the statement.

The revamp will mean around 8% of the firm's roughly 42,000 staff will leave. The bank is expected to incur a restructuring charge of about A$560 million ($369 million) before tax in the second half of this year.

“My ambition is for ANZ to be the best bank for our customers while ensuring we sustainably meet the performance expected over the long-term,” Matos said in the statement. “We know this will be difficult news for some of our staff.”

Matos, just four months into his role leading the Melbourne-based lender, is orchestrating a turnaround strategy aimed at winning back trust from regulators at the same time as assuaging investors' concerns. He's told staff to stop work that isn't a priority and has pledged to improve the bank's culture and risk management.

ANZ shares opened 0.2% higher in Sydney trading on Tuesday. Its stock is up about 15% year-to-date, outperforming a sub-gauge of Australian banking stocks.

Matos, a former HSBC Holdings Plc banker who forged a reputation for fixing problems, was forced to apologize last month after a botched communication of a redundancy plan. The firm last week began cutting so-called middle- and back-office jobs within its institutional banking division, according to people familiar with the matter.

Matos took over from Shayne Elliott in May, the former CEO who was plagued by regulatory inquiries during his final year in charge. The banking regulator has slapped additional capital requirements on the firm due to risk management shortcomings and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is examining ANZ's role in the sale of government bonds. 

Since Matos arrived, several senior people have left the firm, including ex-retail chief Maile Carnegie and tech boss Gerard Florian. Les Vance started at the bank last week reporting directly to Matos, responsible for strengthening non-financial risk management and culture in a consistent way across the bank. 

ANZ is also revamping its structure of senior managers, creating separate chief risk officers for its retail and commercial divisions as well as the institutional bank's chief risk role. All three of those positions report to the group-wide risk head, Kevin Corbally.