Westpac has denied that a mass restructuring is underway with hundreds of jobs on the line. First Union general secretary Robert Reid said he had received a tip that hundreds of Westpac staff faced losing their jobs "but the bank is still denying that it is large-scale". "There [is] some restructuring and some redundancies we know that are happening in some of the branches and we're involved in that, but it's nowhere near the numbers that some media are mentioning. "We have asked Westpac and they have denied some of the numbers being mentioned - 600, 700 or 800 - they have denied that there's anything like that either going on, or in the wind. "Possibly there'd be around 20 or 30 involved that we're aware of at the moment. "It's almost ongoing, there's always some restructuring. At the moment for us it's nothing out of the ordinary, but it is on the other hand very concerning that we hear rumours about something a lot bigger." Westpac spokesman Chris Mirams said some restructuring was currently underway, but denied it was major. Westpac recently combined its business bank with its corporate and institutional distribution units, he said. "Following on, we are now looking at strengthening our capability and reducing duplication. "It's an on-going process to ensure our resources are focused in the right areas to support our customer facing staff effectively. "Any final figure regarding jobs is expected to be less than three figures."
Westpac has today issued a denial that a mass restructuring is underway, and that it is set to cut hundreds of jobs in New Zealand. The bank said the restructure was not part of its normal business plan but rather an "operational change". Westpac spokesman Chris Mirams said some restructuring was currently under way, but denied it was "major".