CBA

The role

The 45 roles were in CBA’s Customer Service Direct business.¹ Cyber Daily reported that CBA had announced a new customer assistance AI voice bot system only a month before the redundancies.²

The change

CBA said it would make at least 45 roles redundant after its push to use AI.²

Cyber Daily reported that it was the first time the Finance Sector Union had been notified of redundancies related to AI.³

What happened next

On 21 August 2025, CBA confirmed that its decision that the 45 customer service jobs were no longer needed was incorrect.⁴ A CBA spokesperson said the initial assessment did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations and that this error meant the roles were not redundant.¹ CBA said it had apologised to the employees concerned.⁵

The Finance Sector Union said the affected workers would be given the choice to continue in their current role, be redeployed within the bank, or continue with their redundancy.⁶ The union also said calls to the bank’s customer service workers were increasing, and management were offering overtime and getting team leaders to answer some calls.⁷

CBA said it was also reviewing its internal processes.⁸

Open questions

• How many of the 45 employees stayed in their roles, were redeployed or left?
• Will CBA report how the voice bot performs, or how call volumes changed?
• Do later AI-linked changes at CBA affect the same teams?

Footnotes

1. “‘CBA’s initial assessment that the 45 roles in our Customer Service Direct business were not required did not adequately consider all relevant business considerations and this error meant the roles were not redundant,’ a spokesperson said.” ↩ ↩²

2. “The country’s largest bank said it would be making at least 45 roles redundant in the wake of its push to use AI, and only a month after it announced that it had launched a new customer assistance AI voice bot system.” ↩ ↩²

3. “The latest announcement of cuts is the first time the Australian Finance Sector Union (FSU) has been notified of redundancies related to AI.” ↩

4. “CBA confirmed to Information Age on Thursday the decision that the 45 customer service jobs were no longer needed was incorrect.” ↩

5. “We have apologised to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required.” ↩

6. “The impacted workers would now be given the choice to continue in their current role, be redeployed within the bank, or continue with their redundancy, the FSU said.” ↩

7. “The number of calls to the bank’s customer service workers were increasing, and management were offering overtime and getting team leaders to answer some calls, according to the FSU.” ↩

8. “‘We are also reviewing our internal processes to improve our approach going forward.’” ↩