Bank profits built on job cuts
By Jonathan Singer
On November 4, the Finance Sector Union (FSU) again called on Westpac to reverse its decisions to close more country branches and cut 3000 jobs, after Australia's four big banks announced record profits.
1998-99 profits for the four banks totalled more than $7 billion; Westpac's alone were $1.46 billion.
FSU national secretary Tony Beck said, "The big banks are clearly fulfilling their obligations to their shareholders. What these record profits indicate is that the banks could be doing much more to fulfil their obligations to their customers, staff and the community."
The FSU has been calling on the federal government to develop a charter of community service obligation for the banks that restores the balance between the interests of bank executives and large shareholders, and the needs of the community.
However, such action is unlikely for so long as the bank owners are individual and corporate shareholders who seek the best possible return on their money, rather than the public as a whole.
Not only do the owners and their executives make all the decisions about what the banks do, but their wealth also gives them political influence. To achieve the FSU's aim of improving the banks' servicing of community needs would require a sharp reversal of the government's policy of deregulating the banking industry, instituted by the ALP in the 1980s to increase the big banks' profits.