Australia and New Zealand Banking Group plans to significantly shrink headcount in China, shifting tech and ops jobs elsewhere.
While global peers elsewhere look to grow headcount in China, ANZ’s restructuring plan worldwide includes shifting staff from Chengdu, where it houses its service center in the mainland, to Bengaluru, Manila or Melbourne, according to a «Sydney Herald» report citing an internal memo.
850 jobs will be axed while retaining 100 operations staff and 700 bankers in eight locations, representing a 50 percent headcount cut in China. The cuts and offshore shifts will occur over an 18-month period.
A spokesperson for the ANZ said the bank remained committed to China and that the business continues to grow.
Australia-China Relations
Despite ANZ’s public declarations, the report separately cited an unnamed source that claimed that the bank was «very nervous» about retaining its Chinese operations due to trade tensions with Australia, adding that it will continue to publicly express commitment.
The source also claims that the shift to India, where the bank has already kicked off recruitment, is meant to cut costs while there are internal concerns that the relocation could hit the quality of services.
The ANZ spokesperson also denied that relocation was related to cutting costs.
