BENGALURU: National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) will cut up to 2,500 jobs, or about six per cent of its workforce, over the next year to simplify operations and reduce costs amid pressure on Australia's credit growth.
The bank, Australia's biggest business lender and third-largest home lender, said up to 1,500 positions would be cut by the end of 2026.
The largest cuts will target corporate roles rather than customer-facing bankers, while the bank also plans to materially reduce its reliance on consultants and contractors.
"Our ambition and strategy remain unchanged. We will improve productivity, risk outcomes and execution to be a simpler and more efficient bank," chief executive Andrew Irvine said in a statement.
NAB shares fell nearly 2.5 per cent on Tuesday, recording the biggest decline among Australia's four major retail banks. The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.9 per cent.
NAB said it would begin consultations with the Finance Sector Union, whose national assistant secretary Nicole McPherson said the job cuts would not help simplify the organisation.
"To take a wrecking ball to 6% of one of Australia's largest workforces this close to Christmas is disgraceful and shows that NAB's leadership is completely detached from the lived experience of their workers," she said.
The restructuring will incur a pre-tax charge of about A$300 million (US$209 million) in 2027, covering redundancy, redeployment and organisational redesign costs.
This compares with pre-tax charges of about A$80 million in each of 2025 and 2026, NAB said.
The job cuts come as Australia's banks face mounting pressure from weaker housing activity, intensifying competition and higher operating costs, which are weighing on earnings.
In August, NAB warned that housing credit growth would slow sharply in 2027 following the federal government's property tax reforms, which the bank said had dampened demand from homebuyers and investors.
At the time, Irvine said geopolitical uncertainty, higher domestic interest rates and tax changes were creating challenges for customers.
NAB employed 41,880 people globally as at Sept 30, 2025, according to its latest annual report.
The move follows a similar restructuring drive by rival ANZ, which last year announced plans to cut about 3,500 jobs by September 2026 under chief executive Nuno Matos as part of a programme to simplify operations, reduce duplication and lower costs.
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