Commonwealth Bank to cut almost 200 jobs after record profits, union claims

Commonwealth Bank is cutting almost 200 jobs in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, unions claim, despite posting a record full-year profit of $10.2 billion.

The Finance Sector Union says 192 backroom jobs are going in the three cities, including in consumer finance, everyday banking, home buying operations and Bankwest lending.

Commonwealth Bank could not confirm the numbers but said it always tries to redeploy affected staff.

LIVE UPDATES: At least 260 bodies found at Israel music festival site

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said the union has been told automation is one of the reasons for the job losses.

"It is clear that the CBA has no hesitation throwing workers onto the unemployment queue in its relentless campaign to cut costs and boost profits," Angrisano said. 

"Workers in the financial services sector should be enormously concerned that Australia's largest bank is now making workers redundant because of automation.

"The jobs being lost are specialists across a range of areas and it is hard to believe that the bank can afford to lose so many experienced staff at the same time that it has a significant overwork problem across the organisation."

READ MORE: Hamas captures hostages as Israelis share photos of those missing

Angrisano claimed the latest cuts brought the number of jobs lost at CBA in the past year to 1085.

A CBA spokesman said it would work with staff affected to help find them new roles in or outside the company.

"As part of our focus on constant business improvement, we regularly review the skills we need and how we organised," a spokesman told 9news.com.au.

"That means from time to time some roles and work will change or no longer be required. These decisions are never easy nor are they taken lightly.

"Our priority is to treat every individual with respect and care, taking time to talk with each employee impacted to understand individual circumstances and work with them on finding opportunities and building skills to support them for another role in or outside the bank."