Bank of Queensland to cut about 400 jobs in restructuring drive

By Sherin Sunny and Rishav Chatterjee

(Reuters) -Bank of Queensland will axe up to 400 full-time roles and convert all 114 owner-managed branch networks into its corporate structure by March 2025 in a move to restructure its operations, the Australian lender said on Thursday.

Shares of the firm fell as much as 6.1% to A$6.03, their lowest level since early August.

BOQ said it expects to incur charges of A$115 million to A$125 million ($77.41 million-$84.14 million) to convert the branch networks over the next four years.

The latest cuts come on top of the 250 jobs lost in the past year. However, the firm has hired 10 bankers in the past six months as part of a strategy to expand its business banking team.

"We expect that the market will remain skeptical on this front (adding business bankers) with a number of banks targeting the same industry segments, further raising fears around competition and pricing," Citi analysts noted.

"The bank needs to come clean on their plan as workers deserve better than death by a thousand cuts," said Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano.

"Workers are walking around feeling that they have a target on their backs, waiting for the axe to fall on them."

BOQ restated its full-year 2026 return-on-equity (ROE) target to 8% from a previous estimate of 9.25%, to include the impact of industry-wide challenges and elevated cost inflation.

Citi analysts said that the new initiatives will only add a minor contribution to filling the gap between management's ROE expectations and market estimates. Any rate cuts by the local central bank will not help, Citi added.

The bank estimated a restructuring charge of A$25 million to A$35 million post tax for job cuts, which is likely to impact its fiscal year 2024 statutory net profit after tax.

($1 = 1.4857 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Varun H K and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)