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Westpac is the latest bank to trim staff numbers. Photo: Glenn Hunt

Westpac is cutting hundreds of jobs as part of its cost-cutting program, with Sydney facing the brunt of the redundancies.

The Finance Sector Union has confirmed that 560 jobs are set to go at Westpac, in the latest round of job cuts to hit the financial services sector this year.

BusinessDay understands the bank will be making an offical announcement this afternoon.

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"We're conducting consultations to a number of our employees around changes to Westpac," a spokeswoman for the bank said.

Westpac began consulting staff about their employment, and the Finance Sector Union said it had been informed of the bank's plans.

Jobs to be offshored

FSU national secretary Leon Carter said that, of the 560 jobs to be cut, about 150 lending operations jobs would be sent offshore.

The remaining 400 jobs were to be chopped from primarily backroom processing and general support roles over the next two to four months.

Mr Carter criticised the decision by the bank and implored the government to step in to support the industry.

"From our point of view, it's completely pathetic that an organisation that continues to make a multibillion-dollar annual profit thinks the only way through difficult times is to sacrifice Australian jobs on the altar of making more money," he said.

Mr Carter said the government should support the local finance industry with as much backing as it gave the manufacturing sector.

Unlike manufacturing, financial firms had the capacity to keep these jobs in the country because the finance sector was continuing to grow, he said.

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Cutting since late 2011

The staff briefings follow Westpac's decision to review 28 IT management roles in its wholly owned BT Financial Group and Westpac Institutional Bank last month as part of a group-wide restructure announced last November.

BusinessDay also understands that Westpac's business equipment finance division is one of the areas affected, with those jobs to be sent offshore.

The bank has been cutting jobs since the end of last year, when it shifted about 200 back-office jobs offshore.

On January 19, a spokeswoman for the bank said the bank planned to cull more positions this year.

"We can expect that staff numbers will decrease as we reduce higher cost contract-based staff and reduce duplication in roles at head offices," she said.

Thousands of jobs to go

Analysts from UBS tip that as many as 7000 banking jobs may be shed in Australia in the next two years, as demand for loans slows and households reduce debt levels.

ANZ Bank is expected to slash as many as 1000 jobs as it struggles with the weaker demand for loans and a slowing growth.

Employment in the banking sector has come under pressure this year, after the housing sector cooled through most of 2011, forcing management to trim costs rather than relying on growing credit for earnings. At the same time, job security is emerging as a political issue for the banks, which received backing from the government when the financial crisis in 2008.

Late last month, the protest group Occupy Sydney staged a demonstration in front of Westpac's office to protest at the bank's offshoring after a year of record profits.

Overseas, the falls in transaction levels as well as regulatory changes in Britain forced the Royal Bank of Scotland to jettison as many as 400 jobs in Australia.

Westpac's full-time equivalent staff levels fell from 35,055 in 2010 to 33,898 last year, according to the bank's annual reports.

The bank's shares were up 6 cents, or 0.3 per cent, at $20.91 in afternoon trade, underperforming both the broader market and the financial sector sub-index.

czappone@fairfax.com.au

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Westpac set to axe hundreds of jobs