Parliament to Grill Big Four Bank Bosses on Job Cuts
A two-day parliamentary committee hearing will question the chief executives of Australia's four largest banks over thousands of planned job losses.
Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in Banking
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A parliamentary banking committee will question the bosses of Australia's big four banks over job cuts, with the two-day hearing beginning Thursday, 12 November 2026. The big four banks have sacked or are planning to sack about 6000 employees since September 2025.
Why it matters
More than 10,000 Australian banking jobs have disappeared over the past two years, according to an estimate from the Financial Services Union, and the hearing will examine why the cuts are happening. The outcome may shape scrutiny of how Australian banks balance record profits against workforce reductions.
ANZ reported a statutory net profit of $7.27 billion, up 23 per cent, while Commonwealth Bank's statutory net profit nearly reached $11 billion in the 12 months to September. The extent to which profits and job cuts are linked remains unresolved.
The players
Commonwealth Bank
Commonwealth Bank is one of Australia's big four banks and a major retail lender whose profits and customer fee practices have drawn regulatory attention.
ANZ
ANZ, formerly Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, is one of Australia's big four banks with operations across Australia and New Zealand.
Westpac
Westpac is one of Australia's big four banks, one of the country's oldest financial institutions, and a major mortgage lender.
NAB
National Australia Bank, known as NAB, is one of Australia's big four banks with significant business and commercial banking operations.
Financial Services Union
The Financial Services Union is an Australian trade union representing finance sector workers and is the source of the estimate of lost banking jobs.
The details
Westpac flagged in October it would strike 250 employees from its payrolls, and NAB announced it would shed 1500 workers before Christmas, a timeline it later delayed to late January. NAB also cut its technology, risk and compliance divisions as part of its October shedding.
Timeline
- July: The consumer watchdog ordered Commonwealth Bank to move about 1.5 million customers onto low- or no-fee accounts.
- September 2025: The big four banks began sacking or planning to sack about 6000 employees.
- October: Westpac and NAB announced their job cuts.
- December 2025: Commonwealth Bank paid a $93 million refund after being found to have charged excessive fees to cash-strapped clients.
- Thursday, 12 November 2026: The two-day parliamentary hearing with big four bank bosses begins.
Market Dynamics
The hearing follows the scrutiny set in motion by the 2018-2019 Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, shifting attention from misconduct to how the big four banks manage their workforces. Monetary and market conditions that shape bank profitability form the wider backdrop to the job cuts.
Bank customers may see changes in how their accounts are priced, as the Commonwealth Bank has been ordered to move about 1.5 million customers onto low- or no-fee accounts. Service levels and branch access could also shift as banks reduce staffing across technology, risk and compliance roles.
The takeaway
The hearing is likely to test whether the big four banks can justify thousands of job cuts alongside record profits, a question that matters for customers, workers and regulators alike.
What happens next
The two-day parliamentary committee hearing with the big four banks' bosses begins on Thursday, 12 November 2026, with the job cuts and related issues such as the credit card surcharge ban, scam protection and interest rate pass-through expected to feature.
Further reading
For more on how the sector is changing, explore Banking coverage across Australia.
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