ANZ Considers Transferring 600 Jobs Offshore as Australian Dollar Drops to 2-Year Low

ANZ Bank considers cutting 600 jobs and plans to send head office jobs to New Zealand or the Philippines as part of its cost-cutting measures.

A leaked memo says ANZ senior manager wants to move call centre jobs in Mulgrave offshore. A spokesperson for ANZ says a final decision has yet to be made. ANZ posted a profit of $3.2 billion for the first half of this year.

Finance Sector Union National Secretary Leon Carter was outraged. He questions the iconic Australian company in its consideration of cutting jobs even if ANZ is making record profits. With billions in profits, ANZ can keep those jobs within Australia borders.

In May, the bank cut 1,000 staff and sent 70 jobs outside Australia. Tim Pallas, the state Opposition representative for jobs says ANZ does not seem to be experiencing any difficulty when looking at its profits. Mr Pallas also added the company is not overly concerned with the families of employees who just lost their jobs.

Meanwhile, Michael O'Brien, the treasurer of Victoria, came to the defense of the government on job records. He said Victoria created 11,400 new jobs despite job losses. Victoria's unemployment rate dropped to 5.4 per cent from 5.8 per cent.

Many Australian companies like Newcrest Mining have either cut jobs or sent offshore jobs since services are cheaper in other countries outside of Australia. The country is suffering from a weak Australian dollar and employment uncertainty.

Australian dollar falls further

The Australian dollar dropped to 92.93 U.S. cents from 94.2 U.S. cents. This is the lowest level in almost two years after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced the scaling of stimulus measures.

The Aussie dollar took a nosedive as investors went for the U.S. dollar because they were afraid of the effects to the global economy should the stimulus be withdrawn.

The Australian share market was pegged to open low today. The Share Price Index 200 lost 56 points at 4,819.