ANZ has warned of more job cuts and an expansion of its offshoring programme after reporting its first annual profit fall in 10 years.
The bank is chasing savings of $200 million a year from a corporate restructuring programme and has set aside an additional $100 million for 2009 as it moves to shed middle management layers and shift more jobs to its offshore centre in Bangalore.
Describing the current financial crisis as "worse than Armageddon", ANZ chief Mike Smith yesterday reported a 21% drop in net profit at the bank from $4.18billion to $3.32billion.
The figures included a $152 million after-tax charge for the bank's transformation programme, including expenses relating to the re-allocation of jobs to the Bangalore facility. The Indian data centre is expected to see its headcount grow to 3000 by the end of the year.
The gradual relocation of work to the Indian facility will continue into 2009, Smith said, although he refused to be drawn on the exact numbers at a conference call with analysts yesterday.