Latest news with #JuliaAngrisano
The Advertiser
31-07-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Bank replaces customer service call workers with artificial intelligence
Australia's biggest bank has cut jobs in its customer call centres in favour of an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that will answer customer inquiries. A total of 90 jobs were axed at the Commonwealth Bank, including 45 roles in direct banking, due to the introduction of a new voice bot system on the bank's inbound customer enquiries line. A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson confirmed the job losses to ACM, the publisher of this masthead. "Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres," the spokesperson said. "By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience." The CBA spokesperson said the priority was to "explore opportunities for redeployment" for affected staff and to support employees with "care, dignity and respect". Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano criticised the job cuts, saying workers want a tech-savvy bank, but "they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it". "Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI," Ms Angrisano said. "Yet rather than invest in its people, the CBA is simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring. "If this is what CEO Matt Comyn calls productivity, we're seriously concerned about his place at the national productivity roundtable. "His carefully curated commitment to policy reform in Australia just looks like hollow PR when acts like this expose that his real agenda is just more profit for shareholders." READ MORE: 'Very angry, what's next?': Bendigo Bank to shutter services across regional Australia Australia's biggest bank has cut jobs in its customer call centres in favour of an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that will answer customer inquiries. A total of 90 jobs were axed at the Commonwealth Bank, including 45 roles in direct banking, due to the introduction of a new voice bot system on the bank's inbound customer enquiries line. A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson confirmed the job losses to ACM, the publisher of this masthead. "Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres," the spokesperson said. "By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience." The CBA spokesperson said the priority was to "explore opportunities for redeployment" for affected staff and to support employees with "care, dignity and respect". Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano criticised the job cuts, saying workers want a tech-savvy bank, but "they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it". "Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI," Ms Angrisano said. "Yet rather than invest in its people, the CBA is simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring. "If this is what CEO Matt Comyn calls productivity, we're seriously concerned about his place at the national productivity roundtable. "His carefully curated commitment to policy reform in Australia just looks like hollow PR when acts like this expose that his real agenda is just more profit for shareholders." READ MORE: 'Very angry, what's next?': Bendigo Bank to shutter services across regional Australia Australia's biggest bank has cut jobs in its customer call centres in favour of an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that will answer customer inquiries. A total of 90 jobs were axed at the Commonwealth Bank, including 45 roles in direct banking, due to the introduction of a new voice bot system on the bank's inbound customer enquiries line. A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson confirmed the job losses to ACM, the publisher of this masthead. "Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres," the spokesperson said. "By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience." The CBA spokesperson said the priority was to "explore opportunities for redeployment" for affected staff and to support employees with "care, dignity and respect". Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano criticised the job cuts, saying workers want a tech-savvy bank, but "they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it". "Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI," Ms Angrisano said. "Yet rather than invest in its people, the CBA is simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring. "If this is what CEO Matt Comyn calls productivity, we're seriously concerned about his place at the national productivity roundtable. "His carefully curated commitment to policy reform in Australia just looks like hollow PR when acts like this expose that his real agenda is just more profit for shareholders." READ MORE: 'Very angry, what's next?': Bendigo Bank to shutter services across regional Australia Australia's biggest bank has cut jobs in its customer call centres in favour of an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that will answer customer inquiries. A total of 90 jobs were axed at the Commonwealth Bank, including 45 roles in direct banking, due to the introduction of a new voice bot system on the bank's inbound customer enquiries line. A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson confirmed the job losses to ACM, the publisher of this masthead. "Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres," the spokesperson said. "By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience." The CBA spokesperson said the priority was to "explore opportunities for redeployment" for affected staff and to support employees with "care, dignity and respect". Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano criticised the job cuts, saying workers want a tech-savvy bank, but "they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it". "Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI," Ms Angrisano said. "Yet rather than invest in its people, the CBA is simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring. "If this is what CEO Matt Comyn calls productivity, we're seriously concerned about his place at the national productivity roundtable. "His carefully curated commitment to policy reform in Australia just looks like hollow PR when acts like this expose that his real agenda is just more profit for shareholders." READ MORE: 'Very angry, what's next?': Bendigo Bank to shutter services across regional Australia
The Australian
29-07-2025
- Business
- The Australian
CBA sacks workers, replaces them with AI
One of Australia's major banks has come under fire after it announced the axing of 90 jobs from various frontline departments of the business. The Commonwealth Bank is 'replacing skilled Australian workers with AI systems as well as cheaper offshore labour', according to the Australian Finance Sector Union (FSU). But the bank said AI can make it 'easier and faster for customers to get help'. In a media release published on Tuesday, the FSU said the targeted job cuts would impact roles in Direct Banking and Customer Messaging roles which, it says, are characterised in large part by their reliance on human-to-human interaction. 'Workers affected by new technology should be retrained and supported into new roles, not discarded in the name of cost-cutting,' a union spokesman said. CommBank has repeatedly come under fire from employees. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw 'The union supports the use of new technology and AI in banking but says it must be done in partnership with workers, not at their expense.' FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano gave a scathing review of CBA's decision on Monday, saying there was 'no excuse for treating its workforce like this'. 'Just when we think CBA can't sink any lower, they start cutting jobs because of AI on top of sneakily offshoring work back to India,' Ms Angrisano said. 'Workers want a tech savvy bank, but they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it. Financial Sector Union of Australia's national secretary Julia Angrisano has had enough. Picture: Supplied. 'Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI, yet rather than invest in its people, the CBA are simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring,' she said. 'There is a human cost to this. You can't justreplace frontline jobs with a voice bot and expect the same service for customers.' The row between the FSU and CBA is just the latest in a spate of strongly-worded exchanges over AI and overseas-related job cuts, which have been ongoing since March. A CBA spokesman told NewsWire that CBA hired more than 9,000 people in the 2025 financial year and were currently investing more than $2 billion in their operations. 'To meet the changing needs of our customers, like many organisations, we review the skills we need and how we're organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes,' the spokesman said. 'Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres. By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience. 'We currently have around 450 open roles across retail banking services, more than 220 on the frontline.' Matt Comyn has been called out by name in the recent scathing media release by the Financial Sector Union. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman It was widely reported in March that 164 jobs were cut from CBA's technology division, most of which were concentrated in Sydney. At the time, CBA said 'some roles and work can change'. 'Our focus is on providing our growing team with the right skills for evolving work,' a CBA spokesman said. 'Our priority is always to redeploy or re-skill for a new role or opportunity wherever possible.' According to the World Economic Forum, Artificial Intelligence is expected to create roughly 69 million jobs in the next five years, but around 83 million will be eradicated. Read related topics: Commonwealth Bank Of Australia Jack Nivison Cadet Journalist Jack began his journalism career as a freelancer for the New England Times, a small community paper based in Armidale, regional New South Wales. He is currently a Sydney-based Cadet Journalist at News Corp. Jack Nivison
ABC News
29-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Commonwealth Bank replaces dozens of call centre jobs with AI chatbot
One of Australia's largest employers has axed 45 jobs in its customer call centres after rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to deal with customer inquiries. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) confirmed to the ABC that the organisation was consulting the dozens of people impacted by the cuts. "To meet the changing needs of our customers, like many organisations, we review the skills we need and how we're organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes. That means some roles and work can change," a CBA spokesperson said. "Our priority is to explore opportunities for redeployment and to support affected employees with care, dignity and respect throughout the process. This includes access to redeployment options, career transition services, and wellbeing resources." The CBA said it hired more than 9,000 people over the past year and had about 670 open roles across Retail Banking Services and frontline teams. The major bank briefed the Finance Sector Union (FSU) on the recent changes last week, marking the first time a bank had informed the union its job cuts were due to AI. FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said workers affected by the "outrageous move" should be retrained and supported into new roles that leverage AI technology. "Just when we think CBA can't sink any lower, they start cutting jobs because of AI on top of sneakily offshoring work to India," she said. "Workers want a tech-savvy bank, but they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it." The CBA rejected the allegation that jobs were being sent offshore and suggested redundant staff would be re-skilled. "We're also proactively creating new roles to support career growth and help our people transition into future-fit opportunities," a CBA spokesperson said. "Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres. By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience. "Recognising that the work context is evolving, and based on individual situations, many of our people have taken up the upskilling and reskilling pathways made available for them to continue their careers at the bank and build capabilities for future opportunities." According to a CSIRO report, 68 per cent of Australian businesses have already implemented AI technologies, with many customer service jobs being replaced with chatbots and virtual assistants. Some economists say AI is also creating jobs at an unprecedented rate, but not always for the people in the firing line. The latest row between the FSU and CBA follows the union taking the major bank to the Fair Work Commission for allegedly breaching a contract by outsourcing hundreds of jobs to India. In response to the CBA denying it is offshoring jobs, Ms Angrisano doubled down on the union's allegations. "The CBA never publicly acknowledged that they are offshoring jobs, even when we've presented clear evidence," she said. "The truth is they are cutting customer specialist roles in Australia while employing people in India doing the same work. This round of redundancies includes customer specialist roles and we have every reason to believe they are sneakily offshoring those jobs." In February, the CBA reported a 6 per cent increase in net profit, with a half-year result of $5.1 billion.
Perth Now
29-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Commonwealth Bank sacks 90 workers and replaces them with AI
One of Australia's major banks has come under fire after it announced the axing of 90 jobs from various frontline departments of the business. The Commonwealth Bank is 'replacing skilled Australian workers with AI systems as well as cheaper offshore labour', according to the Australian Finance Sector Union (FSU). But the bank said AI can make it 'easier and faster for customers to get help'. In a media release published on Tuesday, the FSU said the targeted job cuts would impact roles in Direct Banking and Customer Messaging roles which, it says, are characterised in large part by their reliance on human-to-human interaction. 'Workers affected by new technology should be retrained and supported into new roles, not discarded in the name of cost-cutting,' a union spokesman said. CommBank has repeatedly come under fire from employees. NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw Credit: News Corp Australia 'The union supports the use of new technology and AI in banking but says it must be done in partnership with workers, not at their expense.' FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano gave a scathing review of CBA's decision on Monday, saying there was 'no excuse for treating its workforce like this'. 'Just when we think CBA can't sink any lower, they start cutting jobs because of AI on top of sneakily offshoring work back to India,' Ms Angrisano said. 'Workers want a tech savvy bank, but they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it. Financial Sector Union of Australia's national secretary Julia Angrisano has had enough. Supplied. Credit: Supplied 'Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI, yet rather than invest in its people, the CBA are simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring,' she said. 'There is a human cost to this. You can't justreplace frontline jobs with a voice bot and expect the same service for customers.' The row between the FSU and CBA is just the latest in a spate of strongly-worded exchanges over AI and overseas-related job cuts, which have been ongoing since March. A CBA spokesman told NewsWire that CBA hired more than 9,000 people in the 2025 financial year and were currently investing more than $2 billion in their operations. 'To meet the changing needs of our customers, like many organisations, we review the skills we need and how we're organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes,' the spokesman said. 'Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres. By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience. 'We currently have around 450 open roles across retail banking services, more than 220 on the frontline.' Matt Comyn has been called out by name in the recent scathing media release by the Financial Sector Union. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia It was widely reported in March that 164 jobs were cut from CBA's technology division, most of which were concentrated in Sydney. At the time, CBA said 'some roles and work can change'. 'Our focus is on providing our growing team with the right skills for evolving work,' a CBA spokesman said. 'Our priority is always to redeploy or re-skill for a new role or opportunity wherever possible.' According to the World Economic Forum, Artificial Intelligence is expected to create roughly 69 million jobs in the next five years, but around 83 million will be eradicated.
Perth Now
29-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
CBA sacks workers, replaces them with AI
One of Australia's major banks has come under fire after it announced the axing of 90 jobs from various frontline departments of the business. The Commonwealth Bank is 'replacing skilled Australian workers with AI systems as well as cheaper offshore labour', according to the Australian Finance Sector Union (FSU). But the bank said AI can make it 'easier and faster for customers to get help'. In a media release published on Tuesday, the FSU said the targeted job cuts would impact roles in Direct Banking and Customer Messaging roles which, it says, are characterised in large part by their reliance on human-to-human interaction. 'Workers affected by new technology should be retrained and supported into new roles, not discarded in the name of cost-cutting,' a union spokesman said. CommBank has repeatedly come under fire from employees. NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw Credit: News Corp Australia 'The union supports the use of new technology and AI in banking but says it must be done in partnership with workers, not at their expense.' FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano gave a scathing review of CBA's decision on Monday, saying there was 'no excuse for treating its workforce like this'. 'Just when we think CBA can't sink any lower, they start cutting jobs because of AI on top of sneakily offshoring work back to India,' Ms Angrisano said. 'Workers want a tech savvy bank, but they expect to be part of the change, not replaced by it. Financial Sector Union of Australia's national secretary Julia Angrisano has had enough. Supplied. Credit: Supplied 'Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI, yet rather than invest in its people, the CBA are simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring,' she said. 'There is a human cost to this. You can't justreplace frontline jobs with a voice bot and expect the same service for customers.' The row between the FSU and CBA is just the latest in a spate of strongly-worded exchanges over AI and overseas-related job cuts, which have been ongoing since March. A CBA spokesman told NewsWire that CBA hired more than 9,000 people in the 2025 financial year and were currently investing more than $2 billion in their operations. 'To meet the changing needs of our customers, like many organisations, we review the skills we need and how we're organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes,' the spokesman said. 'Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres. By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience. 'We currently have around 450 open roles across retail banking services, more than 220 on the frontline.' Matt Comyn has been called out by name in the recent scathing media release by the Financial Sector Union. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia It was widely reported in March that 164 jobs were cut from CBA's technology division, most of which were concentrated in Sydney. At the time, CBA said 'some roles and work can change'. 'Our focus is on providing our growing team with the right skills for evolving work,' a CBA spokesman said. 'Our priority is always to redeploy or re-skill for a new role or opportunity wherever possible.' According to the World Economic Forum, Artificial Intelligence is expected to create roughly 69 million jobs in the next five years, but around 83 million will be eradicated.
